A Choice With No Regrets
by Connie Hooper
Summary: She wouldn't even think twice before choosing, it was set in her mind and she would do it, even if she would die trying. Liliana was everything but confident, but after meeting a group of certain characters her shell starts slowly cracking, the only thing she needed was a traumatic event to break it. /JoshxOC/ Don't flame please! Canon starts in chapter 7.
1. Brand New Day

**The JoshxOC stories got me all hyped so I thought on making one myself. I want to thank** **ZexionLover411** **and** **Artemis' hunters** **for inspiring me! I love your stories :D**

* * *

 **November, 2010**

The sound of the alarm clock from a phone going off repeatedly was the first sound to grace her unconscious mind. In a sleep induced haze, she reached one hand out and fumbled around for a second before her hand came in contact with the infernal device. She wrapped her hand around the offending object and brought it to her face under the warmth of her blanket. She quickly pushed the snooze button and groaned loudly as she buried her face deeper into her pillow and snuggled down into her sheets in an attempt to encourage sleep to return to her. She made a distressed sound before she rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes knowing that trying to go back to sleep would be a lost cause at that point. Her brain was already active and besides, she needed to get ready for school.

She linked blindly for a few seconds, staring up at the dust motes floating through the patches of a weak sunlight coming through her curtains before her vision finally cleared.

Liliana rose slowly into a sitting position before she surveyed her dark room before yawning softly and stretching her arms.

She pulled herself unwillingly from her bed and padded over to her window, sliding the curtains away, she grinned whitely upon seeing the snow outside. She was still trying to get used to it. When she turned back to her room, some of the boxes from the moving van were still yet to be open, she felt guilty for being lazy. When she looked back to the window the house in front of her caught her attention, the Washington's lived there. And today her family was having dinner there; apparently Bob and Melinda Washington wanted to meet the new neighbors in the street, they seemed nice.

Shaking her head, she padded out of her room and descended the stairs towards the kitchen, where João Neves was already up and dressed, and making breakfast.

"Oh shit! Lily you scared me!" he paused, "I'm sorry I cursed," he added embarrassedly and sheepishly.

She smiled fondly at her softer daddy, then she gave him a morning hug, "Sorry daddy," she turned from him and set about making her morning cup of tea. The methodical process of making tea was just what her brain needed to start waking up. At the current moment her brain still felt sluggish and weighed down by the effects of almost comatose like sleep state she had so recently been blissfully engaged in ever since she moved to America. When the kettle started screaming she took it off the heat and poured the boiling hot water into her Adventure Time mug before adding honey and peach tea bags and waiting for the brew to steep.

João yawned as he fetched the ready toasts from the toaster, "Ready for another week?"

Liliana nodded stiffly, "I guess…" her voice was puny and insecure, it made her dad cringe.

"Oh hun, I know you'll make friends. I have a good feeling about it," he chuckled, "Heck, I didn't had a single friend when I was your age, but you know what happened?" he grinned.

"You met dad,"

"I met your father and won the confidence to make more friends,"

"So… you're telling me I just need to make a friend and then I'll have more?" she blinked confusedly.

He nodded, "Maybe."

She seemed thoughtful about it, "Be right back,"

Liliana made her way back into her bedroom and crossed over to her dresser. She pulled some clothes out of her drawers before returning to the kitchen to pick up her mug of tea.

"Are you taking it to the bathroom?" João questioned, this time he was already sitting on the table and buttering his toast.

"Yeah…" she replied wary.

"Don't forget to bring it back," he gave her a knowing look, "I found two mugs there days ago."

She smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, I'll bring it don't worry."

She brought it to her bathroom with her and set it down on the counter as she started the shower. She sipped her tea and finger combed her hair as she waited for the shower to heat up. And after stripping down her pajamas, she stepped into her steamy shower and proceeded to complete the methodical process of showering. Her own inner dialogue was screaming at her to not even bother and just go and pretend to be sick to go curl back up in her bed.

Ten minutes later, she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her thin frame before crossing into her bedroom. She smiled in satisfaction as she left a trail of water behind her on the wooden floor, she would be scolded for sure. To escape the cold, she quickly pulled on her dark blue washed skinny jeans and an indigo blue colored crew neck sweatshirt. She pocketed her phone as she passed her bed and quickly pulled the sheets up to make it. She wasn't a person that moved around during her sleep so it was easy to make her bed every morning. Then she grabbed her tan riding boots and hopped around the room pulling them up. She returned to her bathroom and dried her hair.

While staring at the mirror as the noise echoed through the room, she thought on changing the things a bit today. She would try to smile more and participate more in her classes, maybe today she would be able to make a friend. Her goal was to get at least one phone number this week, she needed someone to text… her only contacts were her two fathers.

Her brown hair fell in waves to her back and shoulders as soon as they were dry. SHE brushed through the waves gently before pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She stared at her reflexion and changed her mind, letting her hair down and giving an assuring smile to herself. She swiped a little eyeliner under the lips of her brown eyes, they were too big for her face, she always thought. Then she brushed a little of powder on her cheeks.

Liliana narrowed her eyes at her reflexion for a second before clicking her tongue and cocking her head to the side. She nodded with a shy smile once happy with the way she looked before she left her bathroom and walked back downstairs – she quickly turned back to get her mug.

She sat down at the table and took two long sips from her tea; she munched on the toast that João had prepared while she showered. He wasn't in the kitchen anymore, by the sound of the hot water running in the plumbing, he was taking a shower.

Looking at the wall clock from the kitchen, she still had twenty minutes before the school bus. That was another complete cultural shock for her, in her home country they had buses but normally only for private schools, she could always take the five minute walk to her school but now she had the yellow school bus to take her. The stop was right in her block so she was there in two minutes,

After filling her stomach and finishing her tea she placed the dishes in the machine and walked back upstairs to brush her teeth, after the process and flossing she checked her breath and was happy to smell like mint.

She passed by her nightstand and grabbed her strawberry flavored Chap Stick, she put it around her lips to prevent having them painfully dry from the cold air and held onto it as grabbed her Eastpak padded red backpack. She guarded the Chap Stick on the front pocket and carried the bag downstairs to the entrance.

She snatched her wallet from the cluttered table against the wall and slipped it into her pocket before grabbing her dark blue knitted scarf and matching knitted bonnet of their peg by the door, slinging it around her neck and pulling it over her head, covering her ears.

Liliana Sousa-Neves briefly took a second to straighten myself out before she nodded and opened the door, welcoming the cold wind, she turned to the stair and yelled that she was off; she stepped out and mentally cursed when she had to come back for her house keys.

* * *

"You're the girl that's coming for dinner later right?"

Liliana was on her way to her locker after leaving the bathroom when a voice halted her. She turned around and saw two cute twins looking at her expectantly. Liliana blinked in confusion, and then it hit her. They were Beth and Hannah Washington, right?

"Yes… hello," she gave them a small wave and turned fully at them.

The one without the glasses grinned, "Hey! I'm Beth and this is my sister Hannah."

"I'm Liliana," the brunette offered too quickly.

"You're… not from here aren't you?" Hannah said shyly, "You have an accent," she further explained.

Liliana inhaled, "Yeah, I'm from Portugal."

"Oh, that's so cool! I always wanted to go there ya know?" Beth chirped, "How do you like America so far?"

"You must be having some cultural shock," Hannah said nicely.

Liliana shivered of how nice the two were being; now she kinda couldn't wait for the dinner.

"Yeah, some things are different, but it's nothing I can't handle." Liliana spoke more confidently now.

"Really? How about the timezone?" Beth asked.

"And oh, the food must be weird too!" Hannah giggled.

"The classes too!" Beth gasped, "And you were alone…"

"I can also notice the Mediterranean complex in you Lily," Hannah complimented, "C-Can I call you that?"

Oh… Liliana felt her cheeks burn. They were talking nonstopping but she liked that, she felt like she could hear the two talking forever, as long they were nice.

She nodded, "Of course, only if you let me call you Hannie."

* * *

 **A/N: I feel like this was a weak chapter to start a story…**

 **But well, let me know what you think ^^**

 **Sorry for the grammatical mistakes and thank you for reading! I'll try not to make this too OC-centric, but I wanted you guys to know Liliana before the plot thickens.**

 **R &R&HUG**


	2. The Washington's

**Jesus hot sauce and Christmas cake!**

 **Thank you for the 5 reviews, 12 favorites, 25 follows and 156 views!**

 **Also…I noticed so many errors in the last chapter. *covers face shamefully***

 **It made me so happy to see some action already! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm making Liliana meet the group first before we start with the plot so please be patient, CHARACTER DELEVOPMENT … ACTIVATE!**

* * *

"Sweetie stop fidgeting, you already told us about the twins so there's no need to be nervous," João chuckled.

Gustavo Sousa, her dad and João's lover smiled affectionately towards his nervous daughter, "Yeah,"

He was a quiet man, a man of action but he would do everything for his small family.

The Sousa-Neves family was currently waiting at the doorsteps of the Washington residence, and Liliana, although liking Hannah and Beth, still felt nervous. She was wearing the same outfit of today, the only difference was that she wore a white peacoat and her hair was up in an elegant bun with a green butterfly pin – courtesy of João who was a fashion designer.

When the door was open, Liliana understood right away that they lived in a lap of luxury in a large two-story home.

The main living areas like the kitchen, living room and office were all on the main floor; the second floor consisted in of five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a small library. Liliana stared in awe at the tasteful colors spread around the walls, the organization and decoration was so smart and beautiful that she was afraid to break something.

Nevertheless, she hung her coat in the long row of hooks by the door, her fathers did the same and by the look of their faces, they were awed as well.

"Hi!"

An elegant and beautifully aged woman in her late thirties greeted the three with a big smile, "I'm so happy to see you again John," Liliana watched as she kissed the cheek of her father, and he returned with another happily.

She took a step back and introduced herself to Gustavo, who looked down at her with a polite expression, "Nice to meet you and thank you for inviting us,"

That was it. Liliana knew that he wouldn't talk much more for the rest of the evening. A sudden gasp brought her back to earth, she watched as Melanie Washington made her way towards her and grinned whitely, "My, when you told me that your daughter was beautiful you didn't lie, hi sweetie!"

Her cheeks flushed automatically, "Hello Mrs. Washington, it's nice to meet you. I like your house…"

"Oh thank you dear, it took me three years to finally decorate it and I'm very satisfied with it," the woman hugged her and she returned the hug almost awkwardly and clumsily.

"Hannah and Beth said they met you today at school, why don't you go meet them, they're upstairs, jut turn right and follow the loud music," Melanie rolled her eyes playfully, "Now," she turned to the men, "Let's get a glass of wine before dinner shall we?"

* * *

When she finally climbed the final step, she counted twenty-five. She looked behind her and her feet started to tremble.

Liliana looked at the directions that had the option to follow.

To her right, loud music did blast from one of the three white doors, but to her right, a door with butterfly stickers came to her attention. She decided to go left, the music came from the door at the end of the hall. When she was about to knock on it, the door behind her opened and a surprised yelp came out.

Liliana turned around and saw a boy, probably near her age. She blinked surprised and he did the same.

"Uh…" he smiled, "Hello,"

"Hi."

"Who are you then?"

"Liliana,"

"Hello Liliana, are you with the folks that are coming' for dinner?"

She nodded quickly, not wanting to make things more awkward. Who was this?

He stared at her for a moment and smiled, then he looked around before extending his hand toward her, "I'm Josh, Hannah and Beth's brother."

Oh! She almost sighed in relief, "Nice to meet you," she shook his hand. It was warm.

"So… Beth can't hear you over the music?" he looked behind her.

She looked behind as well, feeling a little silly, and shook her head, "I didn't knock yet."

He didn't say anything, Josh just walked towards her and banged on the door Beth's door. Liliana noticed how close he was, he smelled nice, like he had just showered.

"Yo Beth, your cute friend is here," he yelled glancing down at Liliana in a teasing matter, "Guests are here too."

The music stopped and quick steps came to the door, Beth opened it so quickly that Liliana's little bun swung with the wind. She then felt two arms embrace her from behind and pull her inside the room, confused, she just let herself be taken.

"Go away Josh, and tell Hannah to come here," Beth said.

"Whoa, possessive much?" Josh joked.

"Just go!" Beth stuck her tongue out and closed the door on his face, then she turned back at a whiplashed Liliana and grinned, "You like my room? I decorated it myself!"

The Portuguese girl blinked and looked around and a slow smile crept on her lips. Tasteful colors of purple, an indigo blue and gray covered the walls around them. The king-sized bed was covered with purple pillows and matching comforter. The sheets were blue and dropped into the floor with a darker shade. There was a carpet in the middle of the room shaped into a round and cute panda head. Then her desk was in front of her window, and the screen was open on her Facebook, Liliana looked away immediately since she wasn't one to snoop. She moved her eyes to Beth's woodened drawers, and then she was the collection of nail polish on top of the furniture. The closet was closed but there were posters of cute guys all over it – Liliana only recognized one of them.

"I love it, it's better than mine," she replied honestly.

Beth chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Don't say that Lily, you just moved so you can still decorate it!" she gave her a friendly smile.

Cue to Hannah walking inside and looking at Liliana with a smile, she closed the door behind and greeted her with two kisses on the cheek. Beth cocked a eyebrow and Hannah shrugged shyly.

"This is how Europeans greet each other, right?" she looked hopefully at Liliana, not wanting to make a fool of herself. To her relief, she nodded.

"That's right, I was just surprised," Liliana chuckled softly.

After that, the three placed themselves in front of the computer and started watching YouTube videos, Liliana even suggested some funny ones that she had found recently out of boredom, they had a good laugh. Then Beth typed 'real ghosts caught on camera' and things got creepy. They watched silently a quiet video that compiled the realest and possible paranormal things that were caught on camera, Liliana was scared and couldn't stop trembling and feeling nervous that a jumpscare would suddenly pop out.

As one of the videos got intense, someone yelled behind them.

Beth jumped and Hannah and Liliana hugged each other and screamed for their lives.

Josh laughed, "I'm sorry, so sorry but that was the best thing that I have ever seen, you three looked like chickens."

"JOSH!" Hannah and Beth yelled at the same time, and both looked angry.

Liliana just stared at him with her eyes widened and heart beating fast, she was prepared for a jumpscare but from the video, not from real life.

When she was still in Portugal, she had this friend that loved making pranks, and she was his favorite target because everyone knew she was jumpy, so he would scare cam her and then show it to everyone, they would make fun of her and she hated it. It was enough for people talking in her back because she has two fathers.

"That wasn't funny…" Liliana breathed, she took a hold of her inhaler and puffed once to steady her breathing.

Josh's grin immediately fell into a guilty expression.

"You have asthma?" Hannah asked slightly paling, "Are you already?"

"Oh my God Josh!" Beth seethed.

Josh raised his hands, "I'm sorry I didn't know!"

"No no, I'm fine! Really," Liliana smiled reassuring to them, "I just take it sometimes to feel safe, you never know."

Josh sighed, "Anyways, mom told me that dinner's ready."

"Ok, we'll be downstairs in a few." Beth nodded.

Josh looked at Liliana before he retreated downstairs, the twins sighed.

"Sorry about my brother, he's a nice guy but he's also a prankster," Beth apologized.

"Yeah, he means well." Hannah supported.

Liliana smiled at them. Even when he had done a bad deed they still protected him.

"Yeah I know, it's was just a little scare. He actually caught the right moment," Liliana nodded at the paused video, "That was getting intense, too intense to watch."

Beth scoffed, "But sometimes a good knock in his head is enough to stop him," she smirked.

Hannah giggled and Liliana stared at her in disbelief.

* * *

Dinner went well and surprisingly for Liliana, it wasn't as much awkward as she thought it would be. The twins brought light to the table and they chatted happily with Gustavo and João, although her silent dad didn't say much he was able to smile and nod along. Beth was absolutely thrilled when João told her that he was a fashion designer, Melanie watched their daughters with a bright smile, they were so full of life.

Josh occasionally stared at Liliana, she thought that he still felt guilty about scaring them but when she was under his brown eyes she had to admit that she felt nervous. She looked back at him and he smiled, she smiled back shyly.

After eating, everyone was just sitting on the table and talking, getting to know each other. Liliana watched her dads or in the case, João, talk about their lives in Portugal. They moved because they were tired of their families hating on their relationship, she tensed up. She still remembering hearing him crying in Gustavo's arms, he was strong but he couldn't handle the hate like he did. So basically, Liliana's only family were her dads, it was her choice to not recognize the hateful family as her own, and she didn't regret it.

Her family was small but at least they had a lot a love to give to each other.

"So Liliana, how is school going for you sweetie?"

She looked at Melanie and blushed, "It's g-going very well," she thought first before continuing, "But after meeting your daughters I think it will be better."

"Oh my God," Beth gushed.

"That's so sweet of you." Hannah grinned.

João chuckled, "That's my daughter, always saying nice things." He spoke with pride. _Unfortunately she's too shy._

"Hey, the gang has to meet her," Josh told Beth.

"Duh! I bet they're gonna love her!" Beth agreed.

Hannah nodded.

Liliana didn't know what to say about that, she smiled of course.

"Great! I'll introduce you to them tomorrow then," Beth said.

* * *

It was almost midnight when the Neves-Sousa family was finally leaving. Hannah and Beth gave Liliana a goodbye hug and assured her that their friends would like her. Needing some comfort for her anxiety, Liliana accepted those reassuring comments like cake and took a mental note to make a calming tea in the morning – she called herself pathetic.

As she dressed her coat and swung her scarf around her neck, Josh had approached, surprising her.

"Hey, before we go I want to know if we're good. Because I don't want you to think I'm an asshole."

She blinked, this was the first time someone besides her dads cursed in front her. She found herself not minding it at all.

"I don't think you're… that," Josh grinned and she continued, "And of course I'm not angry, now that I think about it, it was funny seeing Beth jumping," she chuckled softly.

"It was wasn't it? I thought she was gonna hit the wall." He snickered.

They stared at each other for a while.

"So, see you at school then?"

She looked at him fully, his dark hair was all messy and his brown eyes were nervous. He looked so hopeful that she had to hold back a smile.

"Yes, see you at school."

* * *

 **A/n: Hm… so what do you think?**

 **Sorry for any grammatical mistake, I'll keep apologizing each chapter. Sigh.**

 **I think the canon will start on chapter 4. If not sooner.**


	3. Weird In a Good Way

**vany: I have a clear objective in what I want Lily's role to play out when the canon begins. I can't wait to show it!**

 **DarkDust27: Haha, as long you don't eat them in the mountain you'll be fine XD And yeah this will follow the canon and unfortunately Hannah and Beth will fall from the cliff, about your suggestion, I don't know, maybe? :**

 **ZexionLover411: You reviewed! I'm so happy that you liked my story! :D**

 **DragonWendy: You know what? I might do that, it sounds like a good plan. Thanks for reading!**

 **Btw, Melanie calls João 'John' because that's exactly what the name means in English. He doesn't mind ^^**

 **Also I changed my mind. I'm going to take a few chapters just to steady Liliana's relationship with each character first. And just to avoid any confusion here's the year births of each character according to wiki:**

 **Josh and Mike 1995.  
Hannah*, Beth*, Sam, Chris, Emily, Jess and Liliana: 1996.  
Matt and Ashley: 1997. **

***- it doesn't actually say which year they were born so I'll just assume that they're a year younger than Josh, at least in my story.**

 **Also, the group doesn't know Matt and Ashley yet, since they're not even in high school. Don't worry though, that day will come! I think I can do this, because it's fanfiction and not canon ^O^**

 **And wow, I totally forgot that they're from Los Angeles, does it snow in California? I'm sorry if it's a stupid question but I'm not from America D:**

 **Thank you for the 10 reviews, 12 favorites, 35 followers and 400+ views!**

* * *

Liliana made her way towards the school bathroom quickly. She shouldn't have drunk all that tea this morning and leave to catch the bus – bad decision. But she had been so nervous to meet Hannah and Beth's friends. When she entered inside the bathroom with the four toiled cubicles, she was glad that at least one of them was empty.

After finishing her business, she walked over the sink and turned on the facet to start washing her hands, with soupy hands, she hummed a song to herself.

"Dammit!"

She gasped and rounded her eyes around the bathroom, she looked at the only cubicle closed and blushed, someone was here. Did she hear her humming?

"Of all the days…" the female voice whined, "Is someone there?"

Liliana washed the soup from her hands and turned the facet, stopping the water, "Y-Yes?"

"Oh thank God- please tell me you have a tampon or something,"

Liliana's eyes widened, she zipped the side pocket of her schoolbag and approached the cubicle's door, "N-No, they give me headaches and make me sick but…I have pads."

The girl inside groaned, "Fine whatever, give me one then,"

She sounded rude but Liliana understood why. It was easy to see that this girl wasn't having a good day and when having her own period, she would become rather sad than angry, each girl takes her time of the month differently.

She heard the toiled flush and immediately backed away; she stood in front of the sinks and watched through the mirrors as the door opened.

An Asian girl with a shoulder-length, black hair and pretty sharp brown eyes came out and walked until she was next to Liliana, she didn't say a word; the girl only washed her hands. Liliana decided to leave, she needed to escape the awkward silence, when she turned around her jacket was pulled back.

"Thanks, I would be in a bad situation without your help. My _best friend,"_ the girl said distastefully, "stayed behind so I thought I was going to shit because my phone is dead," she clicked her tongue angrily, "I hate Mondays."

Liliana smiled nervously, "Uhm, you're welcome. Sorry I didn't have a tampon."

She felt really judged and insecure under the girl's eyes, even when she was being nice. She was so pretty.

"It's fine, really. Do you have some lip gloss?" The Asian girl started to look at her reflexion and fixing her hair.

"N-Not sorry…"

"I figured, you're lips are almost chapped."

Liliana visibly paled as she touched her own lips, she knew she forgot to do something this morning. She consciously licked her lips, earning a scoff from the girl.

"Just stop," she reached for something in her leather purse and brought a pink lip gloss, she unrolled the top and brought the pencil to Liliana's lower lips, "Don't move."

Oh Jesus, she was being painted by someone else other than her fashionable father.

She felt the soft cushioned brush slide on her small lip and when it was gone, she rubbed her lower lip with the top one, thus spreading it all over perfectly. She took a shy glance towards the mirror and smiled, liking what she saw. It tasted like cherry.

"Much better," The girl nodded.

"Thanks!" Liliana chirped, forgetting her shyness.

"Now we're even right? I don't like owning favors." The girl smirked as she spread the lip gloss all over her lips now, with more quantity than Liliana's.

"Of course, absolutely!" Then she paused by a heart-beat, "I was never going to ask for something in return though." Liliana muttered.

The girl cocked her perfect eyebrow and lit up towards Liliana.

"You have an accent." She noticed, "Wait… you're the new girl. From Portugal right?"

She was surprised, "How do you know that?"

"Everyone does," she enlightened smugly. "You should know that there are eavesdroppers and rumor spreaders in every high school."

"Oh," Liliana said unintelligently, "Yeah, I'm from Portugal."

Another pause.

"I'm Emily by the way."

Did Liliana just made a new friend? She smiled shyly at the pretty Asian girl, "I'm Liliana."

"Well Liliana, see ya in the halls." Emily glanced at her through the mirror and walked out of the bathroom without looking back.

The brunette starting breathing normally again, that was so weird that she had to chuckle. Emily spoke in a harsh way but she wasn't that bad persay, she also seemed smart. If they were going to be friends Liliana knew that she would have to hold onto her patience.

* * *

The library was starting to become Liliana's favorite place in her school, it was cozy and smelled like new and old books and she had so many choices that she decided to stay here until her next period, she did felt guilty thinking that the twins might've been looking for her but there's still lunchtime, where they would introduce her to their friends.

Josh was around, she spotted him not so far from her locker but he was talking with another boy so she backed away.

Grabbing a book named '107 Facts about LA', she made her way to the reading/studying area and sat down on an empty table. Three minutes inside the reading, someone took the chair next to her and poked her shoulder. She looked and saw a boy with dark blonde hair and blue eyes hidden behind glasses. He grinned at her and extended his hand.

"Hey, I'm Chris."

Alright, she blinked and awkwardly took her time before shaking his hand.

"Sorry if I'm confusing you but you're Hannah and Beth's new friend right?"

She nodded mindlessly, "Y-Yes…"

He seemed nervous but chuckled nevertheless, "Yeah I know it's creepy but when they told me about you I already knew that it was… well, you, since you're the only Portuguese girl around here."

He's smart, she mentally noted.

"Everyone around me seems to know me better than myself," she mumbled softly, "I'm Liliana and nice to meet you Chris,"

"Liliana," he whistled, earning a glare from the library lady, "That's a pretty name. I know we were supposed to only meet at lunch but I saw you here so I took the chance."

She blushed at the compliment, "Wow… that's…"

"Creepy? Yeah I know- sorry,"

Before she could say anything else another figure approached the table, she immediately cowered under those warm brown eyes from yesterday.

"Christopher, look at you, already making the moves on the new girl?" Josh joked, "I don't think Beth or Hannah would like that,"

"I'm not- Josh shut up." Chris glared half-heartedly at his best friend, "I was making sure Liliana here was comfortable enough, Beth said that she was shy."

Did they forget that Liliana was right there? She looked between them like she was watching a ping-pong match.

"Alright bro, no need to get all defensive," he looked at Liliana, "Hey Liliana, you wanna come hang out with the group after school? We're going to watch a movie at my place." He smiled.

"What movie?"

"Only the classic, Nightmare in Elm Street," Chris answered with a grin. It was weird, they just met but he already felt something good about her.

She gulped, "I d-don't like horror movies much. I tend to annoy people because I scare easily." She admitted shamefully, not knowing why she just dropped such an important information about herself.

"Oh c'mon, we'll have snacks. And I promise you'll be safe." Josh offered softly.

Chris raised an eyebrow at him and smirked.

Liliana stared at him and nodded with a small smile, "Will there be Pringles?"

"Of course, what kind of person do you think I am?" Josh gasped, feigning hurt.

"I'm… I'm in then!" she answered bubbly.

 _Crack_

* * *

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry I didn't see you!"

"It's a-alright!"

Liliana had been walking on the corridors of building B, trying to get to her Math class before the bell. But she hadn't payed attention and ended up bumping into someone and fall on the floor in her butt, some students around her laughed but the person that she had bumped with shooed them away with a glare.

A girl with dirty-blond hair on a messy bun and worried green eyes pulled Liliana off the ground with a firm and strong grip, the brunette was surprised by her strength.

"It was my fault, I was texting and walking." She cursed under her breath, "Are you alright? Did you hit your head?"

"N-No I'm fine really!" Liliana assured quickly, seeing her panic, "I blame my reflexes," she joked to lift the mood.

Surprisingly it worked.

"I'm Samantha by the way."

Whoa, introductions already? She was making a lot of acquaintances today.

"Liliana,"

"Pretty, mind if I call you Lily?"

"Mind if I call you Sam?"

She grinned, "You would do me a favor, I don't even know I was said my full name. Must be because I'm nervous or really, really guilty." She sighed, "They laughed at you."

Liliana shrugged her shoulders, "Laughing is good,"

Sam and Liliana ended up finding that they were both going to the same class and that Liliana – that was immediately embarrassed – was going the wrong way. Now she was glad that Sam bumped into her.

As they walked inside the classroom, Sam waved towards someone. Liliana watched as Hannah made her way to the two with a radiant smile.

"You know Lily too?" she squealed happily.

"What?" Sam raised an eyebrow and then something hit her, "Oh… OH! She's the- Hey!" Sam turned at Liliana like they were meeting again, "Talk about small world uh?" she chuckled.

Sam was one of the friends that the twins wanted her to meet? Talk about coincidence since the same thing happened with Chris.

"It is." Liliana nodded.

Liliana was assigned to sit next to the table of Sam's right. They smiled confidently at each other and payed attention to the class. Sam was able to help Liliana with some of the exercises and problems, Hannah watched them with a smile, happy that Liliana was getting along with her best friend.

* * *

 **Emily? Check. Chris? Check. Sam? Check.**

 **Now there's only Mike and Jess left. I need to plan how they could meet. Also, I tried to make Emily in her character but ugh- God forgive me for not liking her. Maybe that's why I'm trying to make her slightly nicer in my story. *slaps own hands* Bad author!**

 **If you have any suggestions don't be shy on leaving them in a review! :D**

 **I'm sorry for the grammatical mistakes, really. Sorry.**


	4. The Group

**So… it doesn't snow in California. I screwed up… well, the deed is done and there's no going back now! Thanks J. for answering my question ^^ (and thank you for the review as well)**

 **I know that Emily is hated, I don't like her as well, and I know that I sounds Mary Sue but don't want Liliana to go hate her that easily because she's genuinely a nice person. And you all saw Jess in the end of the game, damn, I pitied her so much. Thank God I was able to save her.**

 **I FORGOT THAT JOSH HAD BLUE EYES QAQ**

 **Thank you for the 14 reviews, 24 favorites, 57 followers and 800+ views!**

* * *

Liliana sighed was walking towards her locker after the second period, she was about to reach for it when someone stood in front of her, a girl, with blonde long hair and a pretty face opened her locker, not noticing Liliana.

"Excuse me," Liliana started.

"Hm?" the girl acknowledged her in confusion, "What?"

"My locker I…"

The blonde girl took her time to look at the locker next to her and the brunette, then realization hit her, "Oh, sorry." She mumbled, letting the brunette pass.

Liliana thanked her with a smile and proceeded to unlock her locker, this was all new to her still, in Portugal public schools usually don't have lockers, she was happy to not have to carry all of those thick books around her schoolbag. As she traded her history with her English book, her shoulder was bumped; surprised she turned around and saw Emily, talking with the blonde girl. Did she do it accidently?

"Jesus, these stupid people keep pushing each other," the Asian complained.

"I know right?"

Would she do it? Liliana faked a cough and caught their attention. At first they looked at her weirdly but then recognition flashed through Emily's eyes.

"Hey you, pad girl." Em greeted, "You're stalking me? What are you in love or something?"

"Uhm Em, who's this?" the blonde asked.

"That girl I told you about, that helped me in the bathroom." The dark haired explained shortly.

"Oh!" the blonde stared at her with a slight glare, "I'm Em' best friend, Jess," she said with a protective and authority tone.

Liliana didn't miss it, so she stood her ground, "Hello Jess, I'm Liliana." She gave her a polite smile.

For the first time since she moved, Liliana started a conversation with someone. Why did she felt so confident all of a sudden? Especially in front of two girls that looked like from the Mean Girls clique.

"Don't be a jealous bitch Jess, Lily's cool. She was actually there when you left me." Em retorted.

"I told you that I'm sorry alright?" Jess's confident expression fell, "And besides, I skipped second period to go buy you tampons so you should be more fucking grateful," Jess flipped her blonde hair to her back and raised her chin.

"Whatever," Em looked at the silent Liliana, "Hey… are you lunching on your own like a loner?"

"Actually I'm having lunch with some new friends." Liliana replied warmly.

"Oh really? Well Ms. Popular if they decide to dump your ass you can lunch with us, our friends are kinda stupid but they're… you know?"

"Our stupid." Jess finished with a grin, "Especially Mike, right Emily?" Jess nudged the Asian's shoulder, whose pale cheek flushed.

"Shut up Jess, geez."

Liliana smiled at the two interacting, they seemed to be good friends. Liliana hoped to achieve that friendship one day. Unfortunately her thoughts were interrupted by the bell and she winced loudly.

"I h-have to go!" Liliana hurriedly told them, "See ya in the halls." She grinned at Emily and walked away with a quick pace.

"Hey bitch, that's my line!" Emily shouted.

* * *

On her way to the cafeteria, Liliana actually couldn't wait to meet with the twins, Sam, Chris and probably Josh again. They were all nice people, funny people too. Especially Hannah and Beth, they were so different and yet one in the same. As she turned the corner, her sudden rusted reflexion worked and she ducked before a football ball could hit her in the face. An actual American Football ball was sent to her, and she couldn't believe that she had dodged it. She was more of a soccer enthusiastic – that's what they called it here, soccer.

"Holy shit dude, nice skills!"

She looked up and probably saw the most attractive guy in her life, dark messy hair, dark brown eyes and a white grin. His hand extended towards her and without a word she took it, Liliana was pulled up quickly and recovered her breath.

"Sorry about that, I didn't see anyone coming. Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded shyly.

He was quiet for a while.

"Hey, you're the new girl right?"

She nodded again.

"You're uhm…" he leaned his head and looked better at her face, "…actually very pretty. I'm Mike by the way."

She shuddered, was he… that Mike that Jess talked about? There could be many Michaels in this school, but this guy looked popular and had the looks, maybe… her intuition was telling her that this could be him. She smiled.

"Thank you, nice to meet you Mike."

"So… you're gonna tell me ya name? I hope it's not a complicated one." He chuckled.

"It's Liliana, very easy." She joked back. She hoped he didn't take it as flirting.

"Li-li-ana." He tried, "You pronounce it differently than we do."

"Not really… I guess?" she felt confused.

He grinned, "Imma call you Lily. Because I hope we can meet again."

Oh there it was again, this was so weird for her. Flirting.

"Hey Lily!" a hand tapped her shoulder, "What are yo- Mike!"

Liliana looked at Hannah and saw her squeak.

"Oh hey Hannah, what's up?" he smiled at her.

"Nothing m-much, just…" she looked at Liliana thoughtfully, "… going to lunch- I see you've meet Liliana already."

"Already?" Mike asked confused.

"She's the girl Beth and I want to introduce to you guys." Hannah smiled nervously.

"Oh, no shit? I guess fate worked faster for you and me uh?" Mike smiled charmingly at Liliana.

She froze and glanced at Hannah, who looked mildly dejected. She sighed.

"I sense the beginning of a good _friendship_ Michael." Liliana extended her hand, "See you at lunch?"

He smirked at her, "Yeah, right. See ya there Lily." He shook her hand and nodded at Hannah, "Tell Josh that he still owns me 10 bucks, a bet's a bet."

Liliana trying not to look confused, after all it seemed like a personal thing between their group.

"Sure think Mike, see you later." Hannah chirped.

When he left toward the opposite of the girls, Hannah squealed and grabbed Liliana's hands. Her eyes were so dilated that Liliana almost got lost in them.

"Isn't he so dreaming?" she sighed, "And I'm so lucky that's he's my friend! He sometime goes to my house to play videogames with Josh and Chris and he lets me play with them. I don't even care about the game, I get to be with him." She babbled.

"He seems nice." Liliana chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"But… he seems to like you." Hannah smiled sadly, "Who wouldn't? You're so… pretty and exotic."

Liliana frowned, "What? No I'm not. And besides, I just met him Hannie." She paused when he words didn't affect her, "Look, I don't think I'm really his type. Mike seems nice but he's too attractive, I bet that he knows that over his confidence so he must have… plenty of female friends. He's not my type, trust me. And besides…" she remembered Jess teasing Emily about him, "I don't want any trouble with his female friends, especially you. I came here to finish school and possibly make friends, not to cause any drama." She held Hannah's hand and warmed her with a smile, "Alright Hannie?"

Hannah blinked, "O-Oh my God yes! I'm sorry it's just that I have this huge crush on him and sometimes I forget that he likes to flirt around." She looked at her feet, "Sorry."

Liliana shrugged, "Hey that's alright," she grinned, "Lunch?"

"Starving," Hannah giggled.

* * *

"So… you already met Sam, Chris, Emily, Jess and Mike?" Beth said in shock.

They were all sitting on the same table at the cafeteria. Liliana sat between Hannah and Beth, next to Beth was Josh, next to him Chris. And then on the other side was Jess, to her right Emily sitting next to Mike and then Sam to his left. They all looked at Liliana, who looked at Beth and Hannah with guilty smile.

"I guess it just… happened?"

"Like I said, fate," Mike winked at her.

Emily glared at Liliana at the same time Josh gave Mike a look.

"Not really, I talked with Lils because I recognized her. Beth told us remember?" Chris offered before chewing on his sandwich.

"I met her with Em, they knew each other already." Jess dismissed.

"I almost hit her with my ball." Mike joked with a second joke on that phrase.

"I met her at dinner with my sisters." Josh said.

"Bathroom, she had her lips chapped." Emily shrugged.

"I bumped into her in the hall, send her to the floor," Sam sighed looking apologetic again towards Liliana.

Hannah and Beth looked at each other and smiled.

"So, Lily what do you think of our friends?" Beth asked.

Liliana looked at all of them thoughtfully. Did she like them? She couldn't say she hated them, she didn't know them enough for her to say that. But she definitely felt positive with Hannah and Beth, Sam seemed to be a nice person as well. Mike came out as a flirt but he wasn't aggressive. Chris was cool, like he had felt nervous when meeting her so he tried to be confident, only Josh ended that, in a friendly way. The two seem to be close friends. Speaking of which, she still felt nervous whenever his blue eyes looked at her, she couldn't explain how, maybe it was because he older? She met Emily is a weird situation, but the two ended up introducing themselves and become acquaintances, Sam threw her to the floor but she was so apologetic that Liliana felt bad instead, Sam sure was a kind person. Jess suddenly blocked her way to her locker, due to the buy traffic of students going up and down the hall she had to converse with Jess to let her through, to Liliana's surprise, Emily and Jessica knew each other already. And then she was almost hit with Mike's ball, the moment she felt Hannah's jealously and sadness she knew that she had indeed grown a soft spot over the girl, only in two days.

When she came to America, she knew she wouldn't fit it. But she guessed she was wrong.

"They all seem very nice."

Everyone in the group looked pleased enough, they started eating and talking between themselves.

Liliana looked at each one of them. Then her eye fell on Josh, who surprisingly was staring at her already.

She couldn't look away under his gaze, he smiled and she smiled back timidly. Then she averted her eyes to her lunch and tried to focus on it, but she knew, he was still looking at her.

* * *

 **A/N: Next chapter I'll be skipping a few years ahead, but not enough for the canon. Matt and Ashley will finally appear!**

 **There's a poll in my profile, go check it out if you want to! ^^**

 **Sorry for every grammatical mistake you read!**


	5. Two Years Later

**July, 2012**

It was still dark out when her alarm blared to life at five o'clock in the morning. Liliana groaned as she rolled over to hit the snooze button in her phone. She fell back onto her pillow and stretched like a cat after being curled up in the same position for too long. Slowly she opened her eyes and allowed them to adjust to the darkness. She didn't want to get out of bed after her late night of a session of online gaming with Josh and Chris. But she needed to make money so she could save her own money – at least that was what she told her body when she climbed out of bed to her part-time job.

After the lukewarm shower she took to wake herself up, Liliana tossed her long chestnut tresses up in a messy bun; her part-time job required that hair has always to be pulled back while the employees schlepped coffee to the demanding patrons. The coffee service industry was no joke. She donned a pair of black yoga pants and a black polo shirt, the approved uniform that she disliked. She avoided the other approved colors, white and khaki, because no matter what she did, coffee stains never could be removed from those colors and João already cried enough when he had to give those clothes away.

Spills and accidents were a guarantee with the amount of liquids she handled on a daily basis.

Experience taught Liliana that wearing any makeup beyond mascara and lip gloss (thanks to Emily, she now enjoyed wearing it) was pointless when she got multiple facials from the steam wand on the espresso machine every time she steamed milk. Comfortable shoes were also a must when her job required her to stand for hours on end, and her trusty Chucks fit the bill perfectly.

Her phone suddenly sounded with Kim Possible text message tone. She smiled at it and hopped on the bed to get it, when she saw who it was her smile widened.

 **From: Josh**

 **Hey Lillian, have a good day at work. I'll pass by there when I'm human enough to really wake up. xxx**

 **5:45AM**

She rolled her eyes and replied.

 **To: Josh**

 **Sleepyhead. Will you have the regular then? :)**

 **5:45AM**

One minute later.

 **From: Josh**

 **Yes… zzzzzzz**

 **5:46AM**

She kept staring at the screen with a vacant smile. The past two years had been great, Liliana just turned sixteen last month, she had a part-time job with Jess and she had a lot of friends.

She, however, had met two new people that entered her group of friends. Ashley was a girl a year younger than her, her and Matt were two addictions to their clique, they were both nice and sometimes Liliana felt like she was their older sister, one because Matt was too kind and the other because Ashley was as jumpy as Liliana was.

Liliana was definitely closer to the Washington's, Sam and Chris. Emily and Jess were still best friends, and they occasionally gave Liliana advices to improve on her looks, Jess would pain her nails, Emily would borrow her lip glosses and some clothes, they had nothing in common with Liliana but yet, she found herself being closer to the two more than she was two years ago. Mike. Where would she begin with him? He still flirted with her, but instead of being shy about it she thought it was sweet of him, he was like a brother to her and they would occasionally go out for lunch or coffee together, Mike also knew that he couldn't like Liliana like that, to him she was cute but on the other hand, she was like a sister.

However, Liliana developed a crush on Joshua. And she had no idea how to tell him, everyone obviously knew about it, Hannah and Beth caught it right away.

With her clean in hand, she hopped into her 2012 bluish grey Toyota Yaris (courtesy on her dads for passing her driving lessons) and made her way to where the coffeehouse was located. It still smelled like new.

Since João had finally opened his own boutique, business had been successful so the house on the Sousa-Neves household had been upgraded, they were not rich but they weren't going to starve for the next years.

The drive was quick and easy; she loved opening shift because Liliana never had to deal with the absurdly offensive traffic, not to mention the crazy lunatics who were always in a hurry to go to work. It was a breezy, cool summer morning and she had the stereo blasting KIIS FM the whole way, bopping along to the top eighties for the short ride.

She wasn't surprised to see she was the first one there, but thankfully her shift supervisor left her a spare key. She quickly unlocked the door and ran to deactivate the alarm. She took a deep breath and inhaled the rich aroma from the coffee beans as she went to re-lock the door before she began the morning routine.

Once Liliana had the money counted and the ambience music started, it was already forty past five.

She carried the tills out to the registers and began setting up the pastry case. She sighed, kinda anxious that Jessica, her co-worker who was supposed to be working _right_ now, hadn't arrived yet, especially since they needed to start opening the doors in fifteen minutes. The morning really called for two people to get the day started. Liliana disliked having to rush through everything – there was a high chance for mistakes to occur, not to mention accidents.

She started the grinders for the espresso machine and began brewing the double strength coffee for the iced coffee lovers. Once that was done, she started the pots of coffee and then filled the insulated creamer containers; she then set them on the condiment bar. She pulled the chocolate for the mochas and the blended drinks out of the fridge and placed them in their usual spots on the counter.

It was all busy work Liliana was doing, and she frowned at that. She would remember herself to cold Jess when she finally arrives; it was the third time that she had not shown up for a shift with her. She was asking to be fired but Liliana never told her supervisor about Jess's tardiness.

She was running on the coffee fumes since she hadn't yet been able to make her famous café au lait for herself. Then Liliana placed a call into Jess, who seemed to be in a rush and kept apologizing for her lateness, Liliana decided to believe that she was being honest when she told her that her alarm didn't went on.

While Jess didn't arrive though, some people who regularly came in were pissed when they had to wait longer than three minutes before they could consume their overpriced drinks…even if Liliana made them perfectly on the first try.

With only a few minutes remaining, she tested the calibration of the espresso grind and made a couple of shots. She was ecstatic when they timed out perfectly for the first time. Not wanting to be wasteful – and in dire need of a pick-me-up line – she poured them into a cup, added a couple of pumps of vanilla and a bit of cold milk, and downed the drink in one gulp. Even with the added ingredients the richness of the coffee hit her palate in all the right places. It was bold but smooth and lingered in the back of her mouth. The drink was glorious, and Liliana completely understood why everyone was irrationally obsessed with their coffee. It was just that delicious.

At six o'clock on the dot, Liliana unlocked the doors and waited for the first person to come in and get their fix.

She was just steaming up the first pitcher of milk when her first customer walked in. She grinned when Matt walked in with a tired expression. He always woke up early to train for his dream – to be a linebacker.

"Hey Mattie, you want your usual?" Liliana asked affectionately as she looked down to watch the temperature of the milk on the thermometer rise. A boil over was the last thing he needed to deal with when she was alone; besides, the smell of burnt milk was disgusting.

"Hi Lils, yeah, I'll have my usual. Jess asked me to let you know that she'd be here in less than thirty minutes."

Everyone in the group knew about his training.

"Cool. Thanks for letting me know," she handed him his large Americano and then rang him up. He tossed his change in the tip jar and Liliana shook her head.

"I'd stay and keep you company until she arrives but I have to start jogging to catch up with my time." Matt was really a nice guy, any girl would be lucky to have him.

"Don't worry about it," she replied. "I'll be fine for the next half hour. If it was after six during the rush, then I would start to worry."

"Well don't worry, I'm sure that Josh will be here in a minute," Matt grinned.

"He doesn't work here." Liliana flushed.

He chuckled, "I got to go then, see ya later Lils." With one last wave, he was gone.

A couple of other early risers and a few regulars came and went. Liliana sang along with Adele when a throat cleared behind her and caused her to jump. Her foot caught on one of the mats and she fell on the ground, shrieking the whole way down.

"Shit! Are you okay?" an intense baritone voice asked.

"Yeah," she laughed. "Happens to me all the time, it's just another day in the life of a graceless swan."

Even though she could laugh at her situation she found herself in, Liliana couldn't prevent the rush of blood to her skin when she looked up at the witness of my clumsiness. When their eyes met, she was lost. Of course it had to be him.

"Joshua!" she yelped as she stood up quickly.

"Hey Lillian!" he chirped.

She sighed in shame, "You scared me, _again._ "

"Trust me it wasn't my intention, _again._ " He smirked adorably. Well it was adorable for Liliana.

He was wearing a black t-shirts and a pair of wrinkled blue jeans. A baseball cap covered his messy dark hair, and he had become taller than her over the past couple of years, she reached his shoulders.

"So the usual, right?" Liliana smiles as she already starts ahead.

He nodded.

"One large café au lait coming up." She turned back and started to prepare his beverage. Once the cup was half full, she topped it off with the hot milk and a dollop of the perfect foam that she created. Liliana loved making foam.

"That'll be $2.95." she said when she placed the cup on the counter. Josh gave her a twenty and she immediately handed him the difference, she was getting good with the American money.

Josh placed the change in her tip jar (earning a sigh from her) and grabbed the cup onto his lips in desperation to taste it.

"Careful, it's hot," Liliana informed him with her nervous eyes making sure he wouldn't get burnt.

He took a sip anyway and moaned as he swallowed. "Damn, that's the best coffee I've ever had." He grinned.

"You say that every time you come here," she chuckled.

"Not when you don't make it, you have a gift."

"Thanks, Joshua." She beamed under his compliment. Sure, anyone who worked here could have made the drink just as well as she, but she did add a bit of love into every cup. There were people – including her group of friends – saying that the care Liliana took made the coffee taste that much better.

She never thought her talent would be making coffee.

"You're more than welcome coffee girl," he winked. "You're leaving at three, right?"

Liliana couldn't help but to watch his Adam's apple bob as he took another sip and swallowed. She had to bite her lip to keep from groaning out loud at the sight. She was embarrassed by her thoughts. She began to wonder when did this silly crush started, she had to go back two years ago… she looked like Hannah sometimes, whom was still innocently crushing on Mike.

"Yep," she replied, noticing the line behind him nervously.

"Sam and Chris are dropping by later to watch a movie, he might invite Ashley," they both grinned knowingly, Chris liked her, "So come too."

"Sure," she replied too quickly, "I mean, I have nothing to do and I kinda miss Sam."

They haven't seen each other in a week, besides the text messages or the phone calls.

He grinned, "Great, see ya at… four then?"

"Four's great."

"Good," he smiled at her.

She smiled back, "Fantastic."

"Hey buddy, you have your drink. Stop flirting and get a move on!" a raspy voice of an old man complained.

* * *

"Oh my Gosh Lily, I missed you so much!"

As soon Liliana was let inside by Josh into the Washington's home theatre, Sam glomped her in a tight hug.

"Sam! I missed you too, you're hair's longer." Lily chuckled, smelling the strawberry organic shampoo that Sam used.

"Thinking about cutting it actually, but Hannah says that would become a catastrophe." Sam rolled her eyes warmly.

"I'm right, aren't I Lily?" Hannah joined the conversation with a pout.

"It depends on Sam's decision really, it is _her_ hair Hannie." Liliana looked at Hannah with apologetic eyes.

The room suddenly became dark and Ashley, who was somewhere close, screamed. Liliana yelped but she quickly clung onto Josh's arm.

"Ladies, now that we got your attention, please take a seat for us to finally watch the movie." Chris grinned in front of the theatre screen.

"Chris, sit your ass down!" Beth ordered, "And turn the lights on before someone falls!"

"Yes ma'am," Chris immediately turned the lights back on with a sheepish smile.

"Ugh, Chris, that really scared me!" Ashley whined while punching his arm gently.

The theatre had five rows of comfortable chairs with cup holders in each, the screen covered the entire wall that the chairs faced, and in the left corner of the entrance there was a turned on popcorn machine that was emitting a delicious smell. Next to the machine were two jars with sugar or salt contained in it. Then next to the jars there was a soda machine. Liliana noticed that two chairs in the fourth row already had popcorn bags and cups of soda in the holders.

"Who's sitting there?" she asked loudly.

"Ash and me," Chris said with a stuck smile.

"Is there any room in the last row?" she turned to the others. Liliana always preferred the last row of seats.

"Hannah and I are sitting there, Sam is sitting next to Hannah," Beth replied.

Each row had five seats. She looked at Josh and batted her eyes, "What movie are we watching?"

"The Grudge," he grinned, making a scary voice, "We're watching the Japanese original also."

"You're sitting with me then," she mumbled while pointing at the last two seats next to the wall. Whenever they watched horror or thriller films, Josh was always her resort on hiding from the scary scenes, and he would always hold her protectively and warn her when the scene was over.

"Well I wouldn't imagine it other way coffee girl," he chuckled.

Everyone took their seat as Chris prepared to put the movie in the DVD system. Liliana had her salty popcorn and her peach Iced Tea and she felt cozy in the last chair of the row, she could lean her head in the soft wall of the room. But sometimes, she preferred Josh's shoulder. He would let her rest in it in times where they were together, none of them felt embarrassed or shy, it seemed natural.

As the movie began to start really scary, Liliana saw Ashley cling onto Chris's arm. She sighed anxiously as her jumpscare spider senses were kicking in, she saw Josh's arm coming into view and he was giving her a smug expression, she bit her lips and clung onto it, hiding her face under his arm. When she heard Hannah and Beth let out a yell and jumping at the same time, she squealed in his arms.

"Oh my Gosh," Ashley sighed, "I can't believe that was only the first jumpscare,"

"What?!" Liliana stopped hiding her face to look down at her in disbelief.

"Sssh!" Josh and Chris shushed them half-heartedly.

* * *

"Hey Lillian, I can't feel my arm." Josh whispered with a chuckle.

"S-Sorry, the Japanese can really make a good scary movie." She looked up at his blue eyes.

"Why don't you try to see the jumpscare before it gets you?"

"Uh?"

"My dad, when he produced a horror film, he told that to the actors to help them not to be traumatized."

"They don't know about the entire plot while making the movie?" she gasped.

"Well, they read the script, but he does that to be more genuine. And it actually works."

"Really?"

"He won the best horror movie award in 2009." He grinned.

She blinked at up and unrolled her arms from his own, then she looked at the screen. Everyone was in silence, only a crunch of popcorn being eaten was heard. When the music from the scene started to get intense, she looked serious, making Josh smile amusedly; he was watching her instead of the movie. Then when the scare happened, Ashley screamed but Liliana only inhaled sharply and stopped breathing, then the adrenaline rush pumped in her veins and she grinned with widened eyes – that was amazing.

She looked at Josh. "I did it!" she beamed lowly.

"How was that?" he looked at her adoringly.

"Kinda scary but… it sure gives a rush." She admitted with flushed cheeks.

"I know." He paused, "But… you can still use my arm alright?" he mumbled, looking at the screen quickly.

"Hey!" Beth hissed, "Can you two actually whisper instead?"

They pretended to not hear her to pass by an embarrassment. Minutes later, Liliana was munching on her popcorn when she felt warm fingers over her hand, she froze but didn't move. She did glanced down to see Josh's hand covering hers, the butterflies in her stomach started to fly around, making her all tingly. She turned her hand slowly and let her fingers hug his, and after a nervous dance, they held their hands and relaxed at the same time.

It felt right.

* * *

 **A/N: A slight longer chapter! Here's Liliana's info:**

 **Name: Liliana Miriam Rosa Sousa-Neves  
DOB: June 4th, 1996  
Nationality: Portuguese. **

**Parents:** **Gustavo Francisco Sousa and João António Neves.**

 **Adopted: At the age of 2.**

 **CHARACTER TRAITS**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 9/10**

 **Funny: 6/10**

 **Brave: 5/10**

 **Romantic: 6/10**

 **Curious: 5/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS:**

 **Ashley: 7/10**

 **Emily: 6/10**

 **Chris: 8/10**

 **Jess: 6/10**

 **Josh: 9/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 8/10**

 **Sam: 9/10**

 **Hannah: 10/10**

 **Beth: 10/10**


	6. Summer of 2013

**August, 2013**

Seventeen-year-old Liliana sat nervously on the stairs inside of the Washington's lodge. She made sure her long and round white summer dress covered mostly her knees and finger-combed the wave of her shoulder-length brown hair quickly, she had cut it two weeks ago and she had regretted it promising herself to never have short hair ever again.

Everyone teased her except Josh and Hannah, yes, even Sam, the nicest and the pacific vegan girl teased her a little, and after she had agreed with her cutting her own hair last year! She pouted, she knew that they weren't trying to be mean, friends teased each other constantly. Chris was teased for liking Ashley and never tell her, Sam was teased for her beliefs, Hannah was teased for her innocent crush on Mike behind her back… no one was perfect.

She couldn't believe that it has been three years since she met her group of friends.

Three years ago she wouldn't believe to be sitting here, in the middle of a lodge in the mountain that Bob and Melanie bought years ago, hanging out with her friends before school started. She would be a senior next year and then… college.

She didn't know what she wanted to be in the future. Her friends knew.

Emily wanted to be a magazine style editor. When Liliana told her about her dad's boutique she nearly fell from the chair. Liliana knew that Em would achieve her dream, she was very intelligent, well dressed and always on top of the latest fashion. And she didn't allow anyone to put her down. That's how she ended up being Mike's girlfriend – finally, in Liliana's opinion, the two flirted with each other a lot and when they ended up making out in a party, they got official by Facebook two days later.

Jessica first wanted to be a cheerleader, but the blonde gave up when she realized the work that she had to go through. So she resorted to her second dream, to be a model. She says that she already has everything to be one, a great body, beauty and charisma. Honestly, Liliana wouldn't be surprised to see her in the cover of a fashion magazine or on TV.

Christopher, of course, with his love for technology and his devotion to his own phone, he wants to be an app designer. Liliana knew he would easily do it, just like he got her into online gaming; she had become addicted to playing games and sometimes would stay up all night to complete one. Her first game had been Sonic Advance and she still had her Game Boy when she got to play it. Chris was a pure geek but at least he would go far.

Michael Munroe, the classic Greek God, as the class president, he decided that he wanted more, so he announced everyone that he wanted to be _the_ President. Yep, of the USA. _He needs to study a lot._ Was what Liliana first thought when the others started laughing at his idea. She supported him of course, he might be a little… well, she could say jerk and all that jazz, but he had a leader instinct and she knew he would give a swell president.

Matt, sweet and caring Matt, still wanted to be a linebacker. He still trained hard and became a jock in school, he was good in the team and praised for scoring a lot of touchdowns. He would definitely be able to be a linebacker in the future, and if he plays hard in his senior year, he might get a scholarship.

Ashley, as a popular fanfic writer, wants to be an author and have her own books published. Liliana was serious on supporting her, she had so much talent and passion when she wrote, but Ashley sometimes lacked of ideas so her stories were always on hiatus. She was also busy flirting with Chris, not that he had noticed it.

Hannah wanted to be a teacher, she wanted to teach mathematics. It was a sweet dream; she said she would be happy to help the future generation's education. She would sometimes tutor Liliana when she didn't understand her homework or because she was too busy thinking about Josh instead on focusing in class. Hannah still liked Mike, true, and it was like she had ignored the relationship tha he had with Emily now, love sometimes can be blind but Liliana and Beth are worried.

Beth wanted to be a fashion designer and when Liliana told her immediately that her father was one Beth skipped from happiness. João was more than happy to give her some tips and good schools and he didn't mind having her working on his boutique if she wanted so in the future.

And Josh… he of course still wanted to be a film producer. He was going to start his senior year actually, and Liliana would miss having him around next year. But at least he would go to college and start preparing himself for his future, Liliana couldn't wait to see what films he would make with his enthusiastic talent, she had promised him to see them all, even if they were too scary.

And then there was Liliana… a coffee girl? She wanted more of course… she liked acting, but was she good enough for the Hollywood industry? Could she really have talent to even achieve fame? Liliana liked acting in her school theater, she was in the drama club after all, she's been there for a year and her teacher always praised her, but… every time she thought about having cameras in her face her stomach hurled into a summersault.

Speaking of summer, she was glad it was almost over.

Summer was for kids, for teens it meant part-time jobs to save independent money. But August was the month for fun, the warmest month of summer and also the time for night parties at the beach, staying up all night and sleeping in the day, hangovers, summer flings, make mistakes and new friendships. Liliana disliked summer once. She was a cold and rainy girl. But… since she met the group of her friends, for her, summer wasn't so bad after all. Maybe she disliked it because in Portugal she would spend her summer vacations inside her room, but now… everything was so different.

"Hello Liliana," a deep and hoarse voice said, "Mind if I sit next to you?"

She looked up to see Bob Washington, or in this case, "Mr. Washington! Of course," she scooped a little to the left and watched him sit down.

"So, how are you doing?

"I'm fine, thank you."

When she met the half-bald man, she wanted to do everything but disrespect him, he was a good man and very successful, so be had brought intimidation around him. But as soon as he started talking, he was actually a fun and kind man to be around. He treated the girls in the house like princesses and Josh like his best friend, a family man.

"So, are you enjoying your time?" he asked.

"Yes, you have a beautiful mountain, sir."

He chuckled, "Please, you can call me Bob Liliana, I really don't mind."

She smiled shyly, Liliana couldn't do it, calling an adult by the first name seemed… disrespectful.

"Thank you for having me this weekend, it's nice to get out of the city once in a while. Even though I'm a city girl,"

He nodded, "I understand what you mean, I can't sleep without wearing traffic sounds of the police sirens."

She smiled.

"So, Liliana, may I be frank?"

Her heart skipped and sent an anxiety rush all over her body, "Y-Yes?"

"I noticed that my son has grown very affectionate towards you," he paused, "And not like Hannah and Beth affectionate, more than that."

She flushed, "Mr. Washington?"

"All I'm saying is, that I would be more than welcome to receive into my family with open arms, I'm glad Josh didn't fall for a gold digger." He spat the last words as if they were venom, but then his eyes softened when he looked at her, "You're perfect and everyone in this family cares deeply about you."

Liliana forgot how to speak English. Her mind was numb and she had no idea what to say… Bob, did he just approve her? She knew Bob was nice, hell, he would sometimes bring ice cream home whenever he knew Liliana was there hanging out with the twins and Josh, they and Melanie would make an ice cream party and then Liliana was allowed to take the ice cream left home. She always ended up with Mint and Chocolate – her favorite.

"I don't know what to say…" she blunted honestly.

He laughed in cherish, "Oh my dear, you don't need to say anything. These things take time." He patted her shoulder, "Josh… he's complicated, he's been through a lot* but he always had the support from his friends and family, and now he has you." He looked distantly with memories that Liliana didn't know, "I… please be patient with my son. He likes you, I'm sure he does. Hell, he might even lo-"

"Dad?" someone cut.

Liliana and Bob turned their hands at the same time to the end of the stairs; Josh stood there with a confused but amused expression, "Dad… Lillian? Uh…" he looked at Bob, "Mom's looking for you, something about the generator."

"Whoop, duty calls." He smiled charmingly at Liliana and stood up, "What I said, I meant it Liliana, alright?"

She nodded and smiled shyly, "Yes sir."

He approved her!

She was so happy right now; the only thing to do was to confess her feelings, that was the hardest part.

When Bob left, Josh and Liliana did their own staring contest, like always. They expressed more with their eyes than with their words. Finally, Josh moved and took his dad's seat next to her; he clapped his hands on his knees and smiled nervously.

"So… what did you and my dad talked about?"

She arched a brow, "It's confidential."

"Whaaat? I thought we never kept secrets." He feigned a hurt expression.

"We never said that," she said.

"You're right, we should start that rule then," he paused and frowned, "No wait, never mind… sometimes it's good to keep secrets."

She bit her lip, "Hey Josh, are you nervous about senior year?"

"Hm, nope. Should I be? I mean, I'm only finishing school and going to college to begin my future but heh, it's not that big of a deal right?" he shrugged with a sarcastic and mocking smile.

She rolled her eyes, "I'm serious."

He tilted his head at her sudden change, "Why so serious?" he showed a wicked grin and she chuckled.

"Stop imitating Joker, it always freaks me out."

* * *

 _White Butterfly Effect_

 _Status Update_

* * *

"I know, but you prepared me for that one." He looked at her hair and smiled, taking one of her waves in his fingers, "It makes you look younger…"

"Hm?"

"Short hair, it makes you younger." He repeated.

"Aw noodles, do I have a baby face?" she whined.

"You look fourteen," he teased, "Just kidding, I actually like it."

She blinked, "You don't like long hair anymore?"

"N-No, what I meant to say was," he sighed as he stared at her eyes, "I like you in anyway…"

Her eyes widened, they kept staring at each other and she didn't move as he started to lean towards her, his eyes kept glancing at her lips and she was about to close her eyes.

"He- OH MY GOSH!"

They broke apart quickly to stare at a shocked and flushed Hannah.

"I am so sorry!" she quickly apologized.

"H-Hannie! What's up?" Liliana asked quickly, trying to avoid any awkwardness.

But it was alive.

"I was uhm; I wanted to ask if you know where I left my 8Teen magazine… I can't find it," Hannah stared at the woodened floor.

Liliana looked at Josh and he nodded quickly.

"I'll go help you find it!" they both said quickly, "What?" they looked at each other flushed.

"Oh right, you should go!" Josh patted her shoulder and quickly went upstairs, "I'm gonna… take a nap or something." He crossed the bridge quickly and then a door slammed shut.

Silence.

"Were you and my brother about to kiss?" Hannah squealed.

"I… I think so!" Liliana stood and practically jumped down the stairs with red ears, "Do you think that was going to happen?"

"You were inches! Ah crap, I ruined the moment!" Hannah cried, "You could have been his girlfriend by now and I ruined it! I am so sorry Lily!"

Liliana shook her head and smiled, "No it's fine… m-maybe it wasn't meant to be, for now. Maybe it's a sign…" she stated to comfort her friend.

Hannah still looked dejected.

"Hey, let's go find your magazine then, you wanna take another love test?" Liliana grabbed her hand and dragged her to the third floor, "Maybe you left it in the theatre, we watched a movie there remember?"

"Maybe Beth knows where it is!" Hannah was back at being chirpy.

"Yeah maybe!" Liliana focused on her task now, she wanted to ignore her heart trying to escape her chest at the moment.

She almost had her first kiss, and with Josh! She could still feel his pine tree scent from being outside in the woods, oh good Lord, she needed to chill. She really needed to get distracted.

She wondered if there was mint ice cream in the freezer.

* * *

 **A/N: Done and done! Canon starts in the next chapter. Finally! But don't worry! I'm planning on continuing the story after the plot!**

 ***- Something happened when Josh was eleven; he takes anti-depression pills since then.**

 **Butterfly Effect Update:**

 **Liliana chose to ignore Josh's sarcasm and be serious, he mildly frightened her but changed the subject towards her hair, leading to the possible kiss.**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS**

 **Honest: 9/10**

 **Charitable: 9/10**

 **Funny: 7/10**

 **Brave: 6/10**

 **Romantic: 6/10**

 **Curious: 8/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS:**

 **Ashley: 8/10**

 **Emily: 7/10**

 **Chris: 9/10**

 **Jess: 7/10**

 **Josh: 10/10**

 **Matt: 8/10**

 **Mike: 7/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**

 **Hannah: 9/10**

 **Beth: 10/10**


	7. O Death

**I'm going to try to make complete episodes. It's going to take slower for me to update but if I decide to split it in two parts you'll know.**

 **Thank you for the 31 reviews, 43 favorites, 93 follows and 3,030+ views!**

 **This is the first time that one of my stores reaches beyond 20 reviews! Thank you so much! :D**

* * *

 **February, 2014**

"I don't like this," was the only thing Liliana said before sitting next to a drunken haze unconscious Josh, "And I'm not doing it." She stated.

The first annual winter getaway to the Blackwood Mountain on the Washington's lodge was finally here. This event had been Hannah and Beth's idea to spend more time together and when Melanie and Bob approved, everyone celebrated. Now, ten unsupervised teens could be alone for a weekend in the middle of nowhere. Hannah expressed how happy when Mike came too, even though he was Emily's current boyfriend.

Because of Hannah's innocent and not so subtle crush though, some decided that it would be fun to prank her.

Sam and Liliana were the only ones that didn't like that idea much, Chris couldn't say much because he had shared the bottle of whiskey with Josh and in the end he had the same fate as his friend – he passed out.

She glared as she watched Jessica place the fake note on a few counters away from where she was sitting, she almost had the urge to get the note and just stop everything but at the same time, she didn't want to look like a party pooper, even though the prank was cruel.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you actually did this!" Emily said lowly.

Jessica hushed her three time, trying not to giggle.

"Don't you guys think this is a little bit cruel?" Sam said.

"Yeah, not to mention idiotic." She sent a look towards Mike and he grinned back charmingly, like he always did.

Jessica scoffed shortly, "C'mon," she looked at Liliana and Sam, "She deserves it."

"It's not her fault that she has a huge crush on Mike." Sam retorted quickly.

Liliana swung her legs on the high stool and nodded in agreement.

"Hannah's been making the moves on him. I'm just looking out for my girl Em," Jess said with a fond smile toward her best friend, who smiled back. Then the pigtailed blond skipped to the door that led them from the kitchen to the lodge's entryway.

"Mike are you going to let this happen?" Liliana jumped from the stool and followed after the, pinching his arm, "Think about it! Hannah never did anything to you."

"Ow!" he rubbed his arm and looked down at her, "Relax Lily, it's just a harmless little prank, we mean her no harm." He continued walking and Liliana groaned, looking at Sam.

"Just because he's class Prez doesn't mean he belongs to everyone…" Emily started saying cockily, "Mike is my man."

Jess practically skipped ahead of everyone.

"Hey Em, I'm not anybody's man." Mike teased, making Emily snort.

"Whatever you say, Darling!" she sung.

"Unbelievable," Liliana sighed. She took sight on Matt and Ashley, "You guys are in this silly thing as well?" she almost exclaimed.

Ash had a huge smile, "Yeah, it's going to be so much fun!"

"I'm actually recording it," Matt nodded.

Disappointment? Yeah, that's what Liliana felt when the two said that, she shook her head and looked at Sam, the blond looked nervous.

"I'm gonna try find Hannah before anything happens kay?" Sam whispered for the others don't hear.

Liliana nodded and smiled warmly at her, "Good luck, I'm going back in the kitchen."

Sam nodded before she walked up the stairs quickly.

"You're not coming Lils?" Jess asked from afar, everyone turned to look at her.

"No, have fun in that stupid prank of yours." Liliana replied rather harshly, before storming back into the kitchen and closing the doors with a bit of too much strength making a loud boom echo through the large kitchen. She had gained a lot of muscle after all those rock wall climbing lessons she had adventured on with Sam, firstly she was there to watch but curiously took over her body.

"Jesus! Lily that scared the shit out of me!" Beth exclaimed from the other side of the counter island.

Liliana smiled apologetic, "Sorry, can't measure my strength sometimes…" she glanced at Josh and Chris, "But it seems like not even the sound of a thunder could wake up those two."

"Pf, tell me about it." Beth grinned before she turned back to the window.

Liliana smiled in her back and stared ahead of her. She walked towards Josh and looked at the bottle next to him, shaking her head she poked his soft hair, making him groan.

"Joshua?" she whispered, leaning more to his ear.

"Hm… Lillian…" he mumbled out, his eyes were still closed so she guessed he was too drunk to be awake, but not that much to recognize her voice.

She… called herself a coward for not confessing her feelings toward him, it's been four years and the two didn't pass the friend zone. Even with the cuddles, the head resting on his shoulder, the hugs, the stares and the smiles, they were just… buddies. She scrunched her nose and decided to give her thoughts a rest. Sighing with a new anxious feeling, she wondered if Sam would find her Hannie in time. And when she thinks as 'her Hannie' is because Hannah was very venerable because of her blind crush toward Mike Munroe. Sometimes her friends could seriously disappoint her, sometimes.

"Hey, did you see that?" Beth suddenly said, calling her attention.

"No, what is it?" Liliana was quickly by her side, looking through the frosty window and into the snowstorm.

"I… I think I saw someone," Beth sighed, she looked at Josh, "Dad said it'd just be us this weekend." She looked back outside worriedly. She turned back when he didn't reply, "Josh?"

"He's out Betty."

Beth walked towards her brother anyways. She commented that he couldn't take a drink and grinned at Liliana.

"Take care of your boyfriend coffee girl."

"Hey don't c-call me that." Liliana walked next to Chris, "And he's not my boyfriend."

"You two are dating, you guys just don't realize it yet." She chuckled, making her way towards a small note surrounded by empty beer bottles and the traditional red cups. She flipped the note to herself and read it, her eyebrows furrowed and she looked at Liliana questionably. The Portuguese teen nodded sadly.

"Oh God, what did out naïve sister get herself into now?" Beth sighed as she placed the note down and glanced at Josh, he didn't move, "C'mon Lily, let's just get her." She made her way to the same door that Liliana shut.

The brunette walked faster behind her and almost bumped when Beth suddenly came into a halt, both girls were distracted by a figure passing the window quickly outside. Beth immediately ran through the doors and into the entryway in panic, Liliana looked back deciding if she should warn Josh and Chris but it wouldn't be worthy, they could barely stand up without losing their balance. So she ran after Beth.

"Guys, there's someone outside!" Beth yelled, thinking that everyone was hanging out in the living room. She was confused when she saw them running to the entrance door as well, "What the hell?" she grabbed her pink jacket from the covered couch and followed them.

"Oh no…" Liliana paled, "Don't tell me…"

Everyone stood outside closed to the door looking at the dark woods. Sam had been the first one to arrive.

"Hannah!" she called loudly.

Beth arrived and pushed through Matt and Ashley, "What's going on? Where's my sister going?"

"What happen?" Liliana asked as well, seeming too pale.

Jess turned her back at Beth, "It's fine…" she sighed, "She just can't take a joke."

"I was just a prank, Han!" Emily yelled to the woods.

"You guys didn't stop her?" Liliana gasped, she looked at the woods tempted and filled with worry.

"What did you do?" Beth asked to the group with an angry voice.

"We were just messing around Beth. It wasn't serious-"

Mike was cut when Beth turned back at them with a glare, "You jerks!" she spat before running towards the woods, "Hannah! HANNAH!" she kept yelling.

"I'm going with her," Liliana said without thinking.

"Whoa whoa, no you're not." Mike grabbed her arm, "With your asthma, you wouldn't even be able to run two miles."

She glared at him and bit inside his cheeks, he was right, "I have my inhaler!"

"Which is not with you at the moment," he retorted quickly.

Dammit! She flailed herself out of his grasp and looked at the woods with a bad feeling.

There was a brief pause.

"So… should we go after her?" Mike asked everyone uncertain.

Sam turned her body fully at him and gave him a pointed look, "Y'know I kinda think you're the LAST person she wants to see right now, Mike." She said using sarcasm on her voice.

He just stood there awkwardly and then others avoided looked at each other.

Liliana groaned loudly and went back inside and the others took that as an opportunity to find out that they were allowed back. She sat down in the middle of one of the covered large sofas and grabbed her phone to dial Beth, when she didn't pick up, she tried Hannah instead, she didn't answer either. A giant lump formed in her throat.

 _They're fine. They're probably too busy walking back to the lodge in the snowstorm to answer their phones._ She thought to assure herself.

A comforting hand fell in her shoulder and she relaxed when Sam's organic strawberry shampoo scent was sensed.

"They'll be back, don't worry." She whispered.

"Y-Yeah I know," she tried to smile. Her brown eyes looked towards the kitchen doors in guilt, Josh didn't even know that his little sisters were gone into the woods, "We should wake up Joshua and Chris…"

"N-No! Let Hannah and Beth come back first!" Jess said nervously.

"Yeah Lily, maybe if you prepare you famous hot cocoa they'll forgive us…" Emily suggested shyly, a thing that she wasn't.

Was this guilt that they were feeling? Liliana looked at Matt and Ashley and saw the dejected looks on their faces as well, Mike just looked thoughtful and impatient.

Anxious.

"I don't this is a good time for hot chocolate…" Liliana mumbled, hugging her legs to herself, "My hands are trembling too much."

"Maybe we should lit up the fire, when they come back, they're gonna be freezing," Ashley suggested.

"Good idea, give me a help Matt?" Mike clapped his hands and moved into the fireplace.

"Sure," the joker said lost in thoughts.

Liliana just hugged herself closer, she stopped breathing and closed her eyes, letting herself disappear from the moment. She heard their voices echoing through her mind but she didn't care. She tried to imagine the moment where Hannah and Beth walked inside the lodge covered in snow and where Beth would scold the pranksters, she imagine a scene where she would comfort Beth with Sam and that she would hug her and be glad that she wasn't hurt, or worst.

That moment never came, that scene never happened.

That was the last time Liliana ever saw the Washington twins that brought light and offered her friendship four years ago.

* * *

 **A/N: RIP Beth. And let me hug you Hannah.**

 **Writing this was hard, really fucking hard man.**

 **As you can see, Liliana acted a lot more differently than when she was introduced in chapter 1. And have you noticed that Josh is the only one that calls her Lillian?**

 **It's been another year for Liliana.**

 **CHARACTER TRAITS: (these will appear at the end of each chapter)**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 9/10**

 **Funny: 6/10**

 **Brave: 7/10**

 **Romantic: 7/10**

 **Curious: 9/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS: (at the end of this chapter)**

 **Ashley: 6/10**

 **Emily: 5/10**

 **Chris: 9/10**

 **Jess: 5/10**

 **Josh: 10/10**

 **Matt: 5/10**

 **Mike: 6/10**

 **Sam: 9/10**

 **Hannah: 9/10**

 **Beth: 10/10 (RIP)**

 **Sorry for the grammatical mistakes!**


	8. Days Pass, Memories Stay

**Thank you for the 42 reviews, 49 favorites, 105 followers and 3,600+ views! Whoa, more than 100 people following my story! **

**SORRY FOR THE GRAMMATICAL MISTAKES SO SORRY REALLY UGH!**

* * *

 **April, 2014**

She was numb, she couldn't feel anything. Empathy, happiness, sadness, anger or even fear, they were all gone, replaced with a state of numbness and an expressionless face. She closed herself in her room, isolated and not allowing anyone to break her wall around her. She was alone, she was tired and she was sleepless.

Nightmares, they loved her. She wanted out of that relationship.

She lost the ability to laugh or smile, she didn't speak or nod. She was a ghost, but she wasn't dead. Hannah and Beth were. They were given as missing but she knew in her gut, how can anyone survive this long on a mountain covered in thick snow and wild animals?

They were dead.

And Liliana couldn't help but to regret losing them. She regretted not helping Sam search for Hannah, she regretted not taking Jessica's note and throw it away, she regrets not going after Beth and search for her Hannie, and she regrets being weak and useless.

Her dads were more than worried, she had never seen Gustavo show this many emotions. João would come into her room every day and try to talk with her, he would bring her food, make sure she would eat it. Gustavo hugged her, tried to crack her, to let out her aching feelings about the situation. But she didn't even hug back.

Sam was the first to contact her. Liliana only picked up her phone when Sam called her for the seventh time.

Upon hearing her friend's voice, Liliana cried loudly.

* * *

 **July, 2014**

Liliana graduated high school with Sam's help. She wouldn't think on stepping out of her bedroom but Sam literally forced her out, being forever in the good list of Liliana's dads.

She hasn't seen the others yet, and she didn't want to. It's been five months and she had only contacted Sam. She missed Chris… and Josh.

And she missed Hannah and Beth.

She hated the stares that he fellow graduates gave… pity. But… she accepted their pity.

She saw Chris at the graduation; he was with Ashley so she didn't approach him. She went home and had a small celebration with her dads and Sam. She thought on Josh every second.

Liliana smiled that day.

* * *

 **August, 2014**

Jessica tried to contact her by Facebook, Liliana thought on blocking her but she didn't, she doesn't know why.

Mike and Emily broke up, and apparently he was dating Jessica now. Liliana had no time for that drama but it was sure depressing seeing the duo become enemies because of a guy. She remembered how close Em and Jess used to be and now they're not even friends on Facebook. She tried not to care, because of what they did to _them_ but, with her numbness almost gone, she reasoned that it hadn't been their fault fully.

Chris caught her gaming online, she would kill his character and he would still go after her and chat through his mic, she was annoyed at first but it became funny. So she laughed for the first time in months, making her João cry when he heard his little girl's beautiful laughter.

Sam told Liliana how Josh was doing, she told her that he was seeing a psychiatrist called Dr. Hill and she even suggested Liliana to go see him, but she refused, she wanted to believe that she was alright.

Josh texted her good night on the last day of August, she stared at his house and didn't reply.

* * *

 **October, 2014**

Josh and Liliana talked with each other more now, he told her about Dr. Hill and they both worried about each other. Josh first words to her was 'I'm sorry' and Liliana could see the irony blinding her, because those words belonged to her. She tried not to cry in front of him, but she wasn't able to hold it once. He hugged her until she was done, occasionally playing with her hair and whispering calming words in her ear.

It was almost back to normal, Chris and Liliana would go to Josh's house and they would hang out, play video games, chat. Josh and Liliana groaned when Chris told them that Ash and he were still friends. Josh seemed back to his self, even though he was on meds. There was always a blank staring that lasted a few seconds, he was very thoughtful and every time he felt Liliana's eyes on him, he smiled reassuring at her.

She wasn't convinced.

Ashley surprised Liliana. Chris invited her like the old times. It was awkward and Liliana could feel Ashley's nervous fidgeting. Josh was nice to Ashley and Liliana hugged her tightly.

Josh dropped out of college.

Jess tried once again to contact her, this time she replied back.

Emily was now dating Matt – which surprised the shit out of Liliana.

Hannah and Beth were still gone.

No word from Mike or Emily yet.

Liliana kept going to rock wall climbing lessons with Sam.

* * *

 **December, 2014**

Matt saw Liliana in the streets; he didn't hesitate on calling her. Liliana liked the fact that Matt was still training hard, he was braver than she was, he didn't gave up his dreams. No one did, besides Josh, who was still seeing Dr. Hill.

Liliana went with him once, but she still refused to walk inside Hill's office, even when he offered her a free check-up.

She was fine. She kept telling herself that.

Her stamina had improved since the rock climbing lessons, but she always had her inhaler at hand just in case.

Liliana was now able to almost act like her normal self, except when memories of Hannah and Beth were triggered, and those were easy to get. She really missed her Hannie and Betty.

An unknown number called her, it was Mike and he changed his number. They talked for three minutes and in the end, he apologized for being a dick. She corrected him, saying that he was a jerk instead. They both laughed.

Emily was still to be heard of.

Jess and Liliana only chatted through Facebook.

New Year was ok. Liliana imagined kissing Josh when the clock reached midnight.

* * *

 **January, 2015**

She was going back to Blackwood Mountain next month for the anniversary of Hannah and Beth's disappearance.

She didn't want to, but Josh had already sent the video to everyone. He seemed excited about it, Liliana couldn't say no. She already arranged going with Sam by bus, there was no way she was driving in snow and her dads wouldn't allow it as well. She had to promise to he worried fathers to not run off into the woods at night and always stay with the group – it wasn't like she wanted to be gone like the twins.

It was going to be weird and sad, and there would be some tension with the Em and Jess thing.

She hasn't heard of Emily for a whole year.

Liliana didn't even know if they were still friends.

Josh was back on staring at her.

* * *

 **A/N: It was short but this is only what happened throughout the months with Liliana, a new chapter will be posted today!**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS: (at the end of the year)**

 **Honest: 6/10**

 **Charitable: 6/10**

 **Funny: 4/10**

 **Brave: 5/10**

 **Romantic: 5/10**

 **Curious: 6/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS: (at the end of the year)**

 **Ashley: 5/10**

 **Emily: 3/10**

 **Chris: 9/10**

 **Jess: 5/10**

 **Josh: 10/10**

 **Matt: 5/10**

 **Mike: 5/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**


	9. Memento Mori - 1

**Mistakes made in the last chapter: I usually type 'Melanie' instead of 'Melinda' which is Mrs. Washington's first name. I also wrote that Liliana knows about Mike and Jess's relationship while in the game Sam and Chris are surprised by it, I'm so stupid. I'll work something out. The typos, grammar and cringy writing are my fault. When I write, I usually have an idea of what I want to happen but writing what I see in my mind is difficult for me for some reason, and because my English is like a 6/10.**

 **I'm really sorry guys.**

 **Also, my story will take different routes and maybe you won't recognize them from the game because those choices (although correct) are rarely chosen.**

 **PLEASE DON'T SKIP THE LONG TEXT IT'S IMPORTANT.**

 **Thank you all for the 51 reviews, 55 favorites, 111 followers and 4,600+ views, that is insane you guys.**

 **I'm scared of writing Josh and make you all cringe, I'm so sorry.**

 **I watched PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, Cryaotic, Geek Remix and Minx play the game, but I'm taking the script from a flawless gameplay without facecam or commentator. (For those who are curious)**

 **Katiekat54: That's actually not a bad idea, I might write it as a filler chapter! :D**

* * *

 **February 2nd, 2015**

Liliana trembled under the layer of her jacket. She was really doing this, going back to where everything went to shit last year.

She had catch the bus with Sam, both were sharing Sam's earphones and listening to the radio, the static was terrible because the bus was already driving up the mountain but at least they had some music. When the song was over, the local radio host informed that they had a special guest about the disappearance of the Washington twins, Sam and Liliana immediately tensed up and listened intently.

" _Today is the one year anniversary of the dreadful tragedy that took place on Mount Washington- Sheriff Annie Cline who was in charge of the investigation…"_

" _Thanks for having me, Marty."_ The female voice said.

The static was really bad, sometimes the words skipped around.

" _\- listeners an update on Hannah and Beth Washington the twins that are still missing..."_

" _One year ago tonight the Washington girls left the safety of their parents lodge and headed out into a snow storm…"_

More static.

"… _foul play?"_ Marty asked.

" _Not officially, no. There is one individual we're considering as a person of interest but his whereabouts are unknown. He has an interesting history with the Washington family... He had warned them against pursuing their construction project and claimed that the land was sacred to his forefathers._

Liliana looked at Sam and saw her look outside as the bus passed quickly by the woods. She sighed and looked at her lap.

" _You know there is still the old Sanatorium on the mountain, could he be hiding there?"_

That caught Sam's attention, she frowned at her phone.

" _My officers did search the grounds but,"_ more static, _"the girls themselves couldn't have made it that far…"_

Liliana closed her eyes with a cringe while Sam narrowed hers.

" _Something about that mountain seems to bleed tragic events."_

" _More than you know Marty."_

Liliana grabbed Sam's hand in comfort when she noticed her pained expression, Sam squeezed it gratefully.

" _Well thank you for joining us Annie, to all the Washington's tonight, their son Josh on this, the anniversary of the mysterious disappearance of Hannah and Beth Washington."_

Liliana felt like she finally started breathing again. She yawned a little and continued staring at Sam's pink phone as she scrolled up with one of the buttons. Liliana smiled when a far away and mildly blurry Josh greeted them with his arms open.

" _Well hello friends and fans…"_ noticing his mistake, Josh grabbed the camera, " _…alright let's try that again,"_ Liliana snorted, he was so cute sometimes, when he zoomed in more closely to his face, he started talking again, " _Alright. Well hello friends and fans! It's beyond awesome to have you guys all back this year. Uhm. First off, I gotta say I am super excited to welcome all my pals back to the annual Blackwood winter getaway!"_ He threw his hands up and cheered quietly with a huge grin, " _So, um… Let me just let you know; let's take a moment to address the "elephant in the room" for a second… I know you're all probably worried about me and I know it's gonna be tough on all of us going back after what happened last year… but – just want you all to know…uhm… it means…"_ he paused a little, " _It means_ _ **so much**_ _to me that we're doing it. And I…I know it would mean so much to Hannah and Beth that we're…we're all still here together, thinking of them. I really want to spend some quality time with e…each and every one of you and share some moments that we'll never forget, for the sake of my sisters and… you know? Okay… so! Let's party like we're fucking porn stars, okay? And make this one trip we will never forget, alright? Yes!"_ the seriousness in his voice dissipated when he was almost done talking, Liliana sighed at that.

Sam also smiled a little as she turned off the video.

"He seems happy about it, uh?" Liliana commented.

"Yeah…" Sam said distantly.

"I know, it's so weird,"

"Super…" the blond sighed.

Liliana yawned again and this time she was embarrassed because Sam noticed.

"Did you sleep last night?" she asked.

"I slept a little… I was too nervous or anxious to sleep."

"You brought it, right?" Sam tone was in alert.

"Of course I did, I never leave without it." Liliana smiled at Sam's protectiveness.

"Good… we're almost there."

And Sam was right, just one minute after they exited the bus into the main entrance for Blackwood Pines, a dark pathway between the woods with no light surrounding it, Liliana was glad that they were close to the gates.

The wind was mildly strong and it was already snowing, Liliana tucked herself deeper inside her jacket as she walked with Sam towards the small woodened gate.

* * *

 **DILIGENT**

 **SAM  
HANNAH'S BEST FRIEND**

 **CONSIDERATE**

 **ADVENTUROUS**

* * *

 **PASSIONATE**

 **LILIANA  
HAS A CRUSH ON JOSH**

 **INSECURE**

 **REFLECTIVE**

* * *

As they walked together, they heard a branch crack to their left.

"Hello?" Sam called. Liliana simply stared intently at the noisy area trying to search for some figure or animal, "Is someone there?"

They didn't see anything and nothing replied to Sam's question.

 **SAM – PATH TO CABLE CAR STATION**

 **21:02 – TEN HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

They continued walking straight while leaving footprints on the thick snowy ground. Liliana looked around and cocked a brow, the ambience sure was creepy. The fog above them covered the tip of the naked trees, Liliana eyes widened when a crow suddenly took fly in front of them while it screamed. She was glad that the giant ironed gate started to emerge from the fog. When they approached the gate, the same crow was sitting on one of the stone pillars supporting it, Liliana glared at it as the crow took fly, screaming again.

She watched as Sam grabbed a note that was stuck on the gate's keyhole.

"Urgh… what?" Sam immediately complained, "Ah… dammit." She sighed loudly.

"What is it?" Liliana peeked over Sam's shoulder.

 _ **The gate's busted,**_ _ **climb over!  
**_ _ **\- Chris**_

"Are you serious?" Liliana groaned, already blowing her warm breath to her hands, she looked up and saw the spiky ends on top of the tall gate, "Wait- does he expects us to…?"

Sam chuckled as she placed the note back, "No honey*, we're climbing over there." Sam looked at a gray wall filled with stones and rocks that supported one of the pillars, Liliana flushed, feeling dumb.

"Oh," she tried to imagine Chris climbing over that wall.

Sam smiled and walked to the wall, Liliana followed and started to warm up her feet.

"I'll go first," she smirked at Liliana, "Time to get your lessons to the test."

"I am ready sensei," Liliana told her almost too seriously.

She watched Sam and she readied herself in case her 'sensei' fell with her ass on the ground. Sam took a quick route and climbed through the right side of the wall, Liliana shook her head because the other side seemed safer, she heard Sam grunt at she reached for a lean rock and pulled her body upwards, the muscle strength was strong on that one. Then unexpectedly, Sam jumped to the top instead of climbing around and Liliana bit inside her cheeks nervously as Sam finally took a last grunt before kneeling on the top and slowly standing up. She looked ahead of her before looking down at the brunette and grinning.

"Your turn," she breathed, smiling cockily.

"Send help,"

"Nope!" Sam turned around and leaped to the other side.

Liliana looked around before finally start escalating, she took the safe route instead of the quick one and unfortunately, snow was frozen water so it was slippery, she had to be careful with where she stepped. Liliana grunted as she used her arm muscles to raise her body upwards in direction to a curvy rock that she had set her eyes on. Not jumping, she chose to take her time and climb around instead and when her hand touched the soft snow on the top, adrenaline rushed through her body as she scaled up and rolled her body on the top. She punched the air, breathing heavily and let out a cry.

"I did it!" she exalted while catching her breath.

"I'm really proud of you!" Sam cooed, "Now quickly jump before we miss the cable car. Don't forget that Chris is waiting for us."

"Yes ma'am…" Liliana mumbled, she rose up and sat on the edge, looking down she showed worry in her eyes, and when she finally jumped, the worst pain that she could ever feel attacked her.

"OW! MERDA**… FODA-SE***!" she cursed in Portuguese, bringing her left ankle and hopping around while wincing.

"What what?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Ankle burn!" the brunette half-yelled and half-chuckled, "It hurts!"

"Oh, those," Sam winced, "Can you walk it off?" she asked.

"Do I have a choice?" Liliana asked rhetorically.

Sam shook her head and went ahead of her, Liliana followed slowly, wincing every time her ankle was pressed on the ground. When she finally caught up, she saw Sam kneeling down in front of a squirrel. She smiled and approached them slowly to not scare it away.

"You hungry?" she cooed, extending her hand with a small piece of dry nut that she had on her bag.

Both Sam and Liliana didn't move when he approached the blonde's hand.

Sam chuckled as it accepted her gift, "Cutie…"

They both watched it hop away and Sam finally stood up.

"He was adorable… isn't he suppose to be hibernating or something?"

"Collecting food? Winter's almost over…" Sam shrugged.

They continued walking as they went up some short woodened stairs. The path that they were walking now was cleaner and more illuminated, Liliana really loved the sound of her booths crushing the snow under her feet; it felt like she was popping bubbles. However, she groaned mentally when two crows passed by crowing, again. She wanted to ignore the superstition that they brought along, she had a bad feeling but she wanted to ignore it for Josh, he was so happy for this weekend and she didn't want or choose to ruin it. As they were almost at the station, Sam and Liliana noticed a small informative sign.

"Huh, cool!" Sam commented interested.

"Yeah, I know right?" Liliana nodded.

It was about Indigenous people and butterfly prophecies. It said that tribes used to live in these mountains and they believed that butterflies carried dreams and prophecies of possible futures. The color of the butterfly indicated the nature of the prophecy: Black butterflies prophesied the dreamer's death; Red butterflies warned of dangerous events, Brown butterflies foretold tragedies affecting friends, Yellow butterflies offered visions to help and guide and White butterflies brought dreams of luck and good fortune.

When they both stopped reading, Sam's eyes caught the attention of something on the snow. Liliana looked down at it too, confused.

"What is that?" she asked Sam, "It looks like one of those totems but smaller,"

It had a funny shocked-like expression and it was made out of wood, it had yellow paint lining the carvings, around the eyes, mouth and body. Sam grabbed it and turned it around, revealing a dark hole with more yellow lines around it. For three seconds, Sam was away and Liliana looked between her and the totem worriedly. When Sam returned to herself, she simply placed the totem back on its place and stood up.

"You alright?"

"Uh? Yeah, I'm fine. Let's find Chris," Sam said.

 **+Guidance Totem+**

They walked left and went up another set of small wooden steps. They crossed over a fence and Liliana shivered with the cold, she glared at yet another crow flying away, but her glare was replaced by a gleam when she saw the view of the tall mountains surrounded them, she felt like an ant. She followed Sam toward the side of the station, they both stopped when a wanted sign caught their attention.

"Wow, look at this," Sam said.

"I am… better watch out uh?"

They stopped looking at it and walked back to the waiting benches.

"Chris? Are you here?" Sam called loudly.

"Don't you dare to scare us!" Liliana yelled after her, in a warning tone. She was not in the mood to get scared on a night like this.

"Your bag's here, where are you?" Sam said, "You're not in the bag are you?" she yelled with a smirk towards Liliana.

"Nice joke," she said sarcastically.

They were both interrupted by the sound of a phone vibrating. They looked down at the red bag and saw Chris's phone peeking out from the small front pocket.

"Hello, what do we have here?" Sam asked herself.

She leaned down and reached for the phone, Liliana coughed loudly and when Sam looked at her she send her a pointed look.

"Really?"

"Right…" Sam smiled sheepishly and zipped the pocket closed instead of snooping around, "Maybe I shouldn't poke around Chris's stuff."

"You think?" Liliana chuckled shortly. Then she noticed a figure approaching Sam in the back, before she could say something he spoke first.

"Sam, Lily! Hey. You two made it." He greeted the two girls happily.

"Chris!" Sam said.

"Hello Christopher," Liliana grinned.

* * *

 **METHODICAL**

 **CHRIS  
HAS A CRUSH ON ASHLEY**

 **PROTECTIVE**

 **HUMOROUS**

* * *

"Oh so, I found something kinda amazing." Chris began as he fetched his bag.

"What?" Sam asked.

"I'm not gonna tell you, you gotta see for yourselves. Come on, this way." Chris started heading back, to the same path where Liliana and Sam found the wanted sign.

"Where?" Liliana looked around.

"Right around here. Gonna blow your minds." He moved his hand and pretended that there was an explosion on his head.

"Chris…" Liliana began.

"Trust me," he retorted quickly, "You're gonna love it."

* * *

"You gotta admit that I was pretty good at shooting that beast," Chris said while the three made their way back from the shooting range.

"You mean the sand sacks, bottles and cans? Yeah, they were like, scary beasts." Liliana smirked.

"Hey, at least I didn't shoot that squirrel." Liliana smiled genuinely.

"I would've hated you if you did so," Sam mumbled.

They turned the corner to the benches again, Liliana checked her breathing by inhaling the cool air and exhaling slowly, she was glad her breathing was normal, no need for a puff.

"Man, it is… it's definitely weird coming back up here after a whole year." Chris suddenly confessed.

"Yeah, I swear the moment I got here it just all came flooding back." Sam agreed as she walked towards the entrance door for the cable car.

"I know right?" Liliana sighed, "I only came because I missed hanging out with everyone."

Sam was about to open the door but she bumped into it instead, "Hey that's weird. Door's locked." She looked back at Chris and Liliana.

"Yeeaah… uh, Josh wanted us to keep it locked, keep people out." Chris said.

"He said that?" Sam questioned, backing away from the door.

"What people?" Liliana hugged herself to shield her body from the cold.

"I-I don't know. He said they found people sleeping in the station on time." Chris explained, showing the girls a silver key for the door.

"Creepy," Sam shuddered.

"Homeless people, perhaps?" Liliana asked.

Chris shrugged at her, he proceeded to unlock the door and step back, smiling charmingly at the two, "Ladies first."

"A real gentleman," Sam smiled as she stepped inside the station.

"Chivalry is alive." Liliana giggled as she followed Sam.

The two waited for Chris to close the door and lock it again, then they walked to a large balcony where the entrance for the cable car was, behind them was a small building where the control room of the station was. Liliana looked down from the protective bars and shivered, it was a great fall and the fog didn't allow her to see the end of the cliff.

Liliana watched as Chris walked inside the control room, she stayed outside with Sam and watched as the car descended from the top mountain to the station, it could take a while.

Her phone suddenly vibrated in her jacket's pocket, she reached for it and unlocked it, and saw a message from João, asking her if she was already at the lodge. She wanted to reply that she was waiting for the cable car but she barely had any bars to do it. With a groan, she turned at Sam to ask for her phone but she was interrupted.

"Ugh, I thought that car was closer." Sam whined softly.

"Guess we gotta wait." Chris said from inside.

There was a pause, Liliana looked back to see Chris staring at something on the wall.

"What a crazy place to set up house." He commented critically, "No matter how rich you are."

"They're not so rich." Liliana said half-heartedly.

"They only bought a mountain." Sam said sarcastically.

Seconds later, Chris came back looking a little confused, but none of the girls asked about it. As the cable car approached more closely, the noise became louder and Liliana even covered her ears with a groan, she disliked loud noises. When it finally stopped, the cat wiggled a little from the sudden halt, the doors opened automatically, inviting the three inside. At the light inside was working.

"Finally, you coming?" Sam asked, looking at Chris.

Liliana was already making her way inside, quickly sitting in the window; she wanted to enjoy the view.

"Ah, well I was just gonna stay here and catch some Zzzz's buuuut… ok." Chris bantered before walking to the after Sam.

Sam sat next to Liliana while Chris sat on the other side, next to the window.

"It's just like going to the prom." Chris said.

Liliana smiled bitterly at him, the senior prom had been a blast. But now it was just a memory.

When the doors closed, the car started moving upwards and so it began the journey to the top of the mountain.

"Here we go!" Sam said excitedly.

"Adventure begins!" Chris grinned.

"We're going on a trip on our flying cable car ship." Liliana sang.

Chris shook his head and Sam chuckled.

"I hope this was the right thing to do." Sam claimed nervously.

"What?" Chris asked surprised.

"You know, getting everyone together on the anniversary." Sam added, "I mean Josh seemed really pumped about us all doing something, didn't he?"

"Yeah… I feel the same." Liliana acknowledged looking at her feet, "I'm only here because he really seemed happy about this weekend."

"Yeah, no, he definitely did! I haven't seen him so excited about something in… forever." Chris told them seriously.

"Good, good." Sam nodded, relieved. "It's hard to tell with him and I… I've kinda been worried…" she added, making Liliana bite her lower lip and chew it.

"He's a man of many emotions." The brunette mumbled.

"No, no, it was… it was a good idea."

"I hope everyone else feels the same way." Sam said with a preoccupied smile.

"We're all here, aren't we?" Chris looked outside lost in his thoughts.

Sam looked at him comically and shared a look with Liliana before grinned widely and punching his arm jokingly, "Thanks bro, good talk!"

"Nice one bro." Liliana stood and ruffled his hair.

Chris snorted lightly and smiled at the two before settling his hair straight again.

"You know what? Let's just… Let's just stop talking about what happened and enjoy the trip." He suggested.

Sam sighed happily, "You know what? You're right."

"Amen to that." Liliana said before looking outside the window. They were really high. She started to have goosebumps and a tingly feeling on her stomach.

"You know how Josh and I met?" Chris suddenly asked.

Liliana looked at him curiously, "Nope, you guys actually never told us."

"No." Sam replied with a small smile.

"Ok. Third grade. Josh sat in the back of the room, I sat in the front. We didn't even know each other existed. But the kid sitting next to Josh started strap snapping the training bra on the girl in front of him so the teacher made him move to the front – where I was sitting!"

"Okay… so?" Sam said.

Liliana smiled at her, she didn't get it?

"So I got moved to the back!"

"And?"

"And next to Josh! That's how we met!" Chris declared with a hint of a faint chuckle in his voice, "And became friends. To this day."

"Oh my Gosh, that's so cute… that's like, almost ten years of friendship…" Liliana smiled warmly at Chris.

He flushed.

"A match made in heaven." Sam joked softly.

"If it weren't for the fact that Jeanie Simmonds hit puberty like three years earlier and on that day decided to wear a low cut shirt that showed off her training bra, I mean who knows? You could be riding this cable car only with Lily." He smirked at his explanation, "Or you two could be talking to some other person entirely." He paused, "Boom: Butterfly effect."

"That makes sense actually…" Liliana muttered a little surprised, "It's weird though."

If she had gone after Beth would that change the future too? Would the twins be inside this cable car with Chris, Sam and her? She frowned and gripped onto Sam's hand for support, without a word Sam held her hand tightly, sending a warm wave through Liliana's body **.**

* * *

 **CONFIDENT**

 **JESS  
MIKE'S NEW GIRLFRIEND**

 **TRUSTING**

 **IRREVERENT**

* * *

 **JESS –UPPER CABLE CAR STATION**

 **21:17**

When the cable car came into another halt, Chris was the first one to step out, followed by Sam and flushed looking Liliana. When Chris tried to open the door to the mountains, it didn't budge. He tried to push it and it made a loud sound, someone on the other side yelled.

"JESS HEY!" Chris yelled, trying not to smile from her scream, Liliana gave him a look.

"JESSICA, OVER HERE!" Sam called.

"Uh… are you guys having a really weird stroke?" Jess asked salty.

"We're stuck in this stupid thing." Chris retorted.

"Can you please let us out? Pretty please?" Sam begged.

"Yeah, do it. I'm starting to get hungry." Liliana joked.

Jess looked to her left and pressed a black button, when it turned a bright light of green, a 'click' sound was heard and so Sam opened the unlocked door, Chris came out first when Sam stepped back to open it fully.

"Oh. My. God. I thought we were goners. Another ten minutes in there and I would have chewed off my own leg. I mean, you heard Lily, she would probably eat it first than me."

"Aw, sick Chris." Sam frowned disgusted, she looked at Liliana in the same way and the brunette simply shrugged.

"Look I got a lot of meat in my bones." He pointed at his legs, "This is all muscle down here."

"Yeah. Riiiiight. Uh-huh." Sam crossed her arms and looked at him skeptically.

Suddenly Chris leaned down and swiped a paper from Jess's hand.

"Bwip!" he sounded as he turned around to read it.

"Hey!" Jess complained.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" he said while looking at Jess.

"Chris!" she started.

"My goodness; Seems that someone has a lil' crush on our good friend and dear class president Michael Munroe." He announced while looking at Sam and Liliana.

A lil' crush? They didn't know she was his new girlfriend? Liliana ignored that fact and decided to play with him.

"Our future president of America?" she feigned a gasp.

"That one indeed," Chris sounded.

"Chris, Lily-" Sam tried, but she was cut by Chris.

"Aaand, what kind of sizzling erotica might our Jessica be capable of imagining?" he continued looking amusedly at the paper, "I wonder…?"

"Mike and Em split. We're together." Jessica explained shortly.

"Wow. Drama." Chris waved his hands.

"Not really. Pretty clear cut, actually. Em's out, I'm in." she smiled happily.

"Huh," Sam said awkwardly.

"The first lady has spoken," Liliana shoved her hands in her pockets. She was actually proud that Jessica wasn't embarrassed, she could tell she was a bit nervous but not embarrassed.

Chris waved the paper up in his arms, teasing Jess to come try and get it. Jess walked at him and took it off his hand brusquely while glaring at him straight in the eyes. Chris wasn't smiling either.

There was a pause between everyone.

"Alright, alright, let's just get up to the lodge already. Getting tired of all this nature junk." He said bitterly before turning around to start walking.

"You guys go ahead, I'm just gonna wait here for a bit." Jess replied with a small smile. She looked at Liliana and her smile grew, the brunette nodded at her and walked to stand between Sam and Chris.

Jessica started heading to the bench again, fidgeting her fingers around the paper in her hands.

"You mean Mike?" Chris teased.

"What?" Jess quickly looked at him nervously, her cheeks reddened and with a scoff she continued, "I mean, no. Whoever." She turned her back and made her way to the bench, not noticing Chris rolling his eyes.

"Uh-huh. Sam, Lily?"

Sam was too busy staring at the tall mountains ahead of her; she raised her arms up and gasped loudly, "Did you see this view? I mean, holy cow!" She turned at them with a huge adoring smile, "Sometimes I forget to just stop and take it all in." she said passionately.

Liliana smiled affectionately at her, "I know what you mean Sam, I know what you mean…"

* * *

 **A/N: DONE. I was so angry, because I was writing the middle of this chapter and then it crashed, when I checked what I had saved it was literally only 2.000 words and I was already at almost 4.000 but I wrote everything again and that's why it took me more time to upload this one, sorry guys!**

 **Hohoho, it begins. So sorry about the grammatical mistakes, really. I try, I really do.**

 ***- Sam called Hannah that so why not?**

 **** - SHIT!**

 ***** - FUCK!**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS: (at the end of the chapter)**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 9/10**

 **Funny: 7/10**

 **Brave: 7/10**

 **Romantic: 5/10**

 **Curious: 8/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS: (at the end of the chapter)**

 **Ashley: 7/10**

 **Emily: 6/10**

 **Chris: 9/10**

 **Jess: 7/10**

 **Josh: 9/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 7/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**


	10. Jealously - 2

**I'm so glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter, I was really nervous since that was the beginning on the game, from now on there's gonna be only canon and I hope Liliana doesn't become a Mary Sue when shit hits the fan.**

 **I'll try to continue make longer chapters!**

 **Thank you all for the 57 reviews, 65 favorites, 128 followers and 6,300+ views! WOW! ^^**

 **Just if you don't know, Liliana looks and is dressed like the girl in the story's image.**

* * *

Liliana, Chris and Sam quickly found their way up to the lodge, where Josh was already waiting. Liliana noticed Matt behind Josh, he didn't look so happy. She decided to talk with him later, for now, she went up the hill with Chris and Sam to go meet up Josh, who was hanging not so far from the stairs of the lodge's porch.

 **NINE HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

"Man I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it." Chris remarked as he stopped in front of Josh.

"Oh yeah? Feels the same to me." Josh replied.

* * *

 **COMPLEX**

 **JOSH  
HANNAH AND BETH'S BROTHER**

 **THOUGHTFUL**

 **LOVING**

* * *

Chris scoffed shortly, "Oh come on. You grew up here. It probably feels like it's shrinking."

Josh had his arms crossed; he smiled at Chris and nodded, "I guess that's true."

"Hey Joshua, aren't you cold?" Liliana said as she noticed his shirt.

"Nope, I'm alright. I'm glad you could make it Lillian, you brought you puffing thing right?" he questioned with serious eyes.

"Uh, it's called inhaler Joshua and of course, it's right in my backpack." She said, pleased that he was worried.

He smiled, "Atta girl, I don't want that accident from two years ago to repeat,"

She frowned, she had a terrible asthma attack when she was at the beach with Josh, Chris, Ashley and the twins and they had to rush her to the ER, it had been the first time in an American hospital for her. Josh never left her side.

"Ditto," she sighed eerily, "And it's not like I'll be running a lot around here I mean… I just gotta watch out for the weather change."

Josh's eyes darkened, "Yeah…"

Suddenly Chris half-groaned next to her, he had been checking over his phone this whole time, "When are you gonna install some cell towers up here? I'm getting withdrawals already." He complained towards Josh as he waved his phone in the air hoping to get some bars.

Liliana shook her head.

Josh shrugged, "You got a spare of million lying around and I'll fix you right up." He joked, trying to hold a chuckle.

"Funny you should say that… Ah, I think I left it in my other jacket." Chris feigned disappointment.

They all started heading to the stairs.

"Oops. Hey guys!" Josh greeted with a wave and a huge smile, "Get up here okay?" Matt and now a visible Ashley could be seen sitting down in the stairs and Matt was standing with his arms crossed, he definitely didn't look happy and she had a sheepish and guilty look on her face.

"Yeah… Well… more or less. But it's so good to see you." Ash was hugging her knees and smiling nervously.

Josh walked to pass by them and walk up to the main door, he looked back and Chris and Liliana, "'Sup with him?" he mumbled, talking about Matt's sulking aura.

Liliana shrugged but she also send a worried glance towards her friend. Sam decided to stay behind as Chris, Josh and Liliana made their way upstairs. She suddenly had a feeling like someone was watching them; she turned her head to the woods and looked around intently with her brown eyes.

"Lillian?" Josh called from the door; both boys were looking at her

"Y-Yeah? Oh sorry, I thought I saw someone." She excused with a quick smile, she finally stepped on the porch and covered her mouth to let out another yawn.

 **CHRIS – WASHINGTON LODGE GROUNDS**

 **22:00**

"Yo yo yo! Are we gonna get things moving up here or what?" Chris asked animatedly.

"Yeah man!" Josh cheered.

"Yeah let's do this so I can prepare everyone my hot cocoas." Liliana grinned as she breathed to her hands.

Chris paused a little, he looked at Josh, "Hey… you doin' alright?" he asked seriously, "I mean I know it must be really tough without your sis-"

"Stop." Josh immediately cut him, looking a little tensed up.

"I just meant that-"

"No, I know what you meant. You know, seriously. I'm over it. I just want us to have a good time, you know?" Josh said with a small smile, "Like we always used to." He looked at Liliana, "And with your delicious hot chocolates, coffee girl."

"I will make the best hot chocolates this time, I brought the ingredients on my bag," she grinned at the two, with a twinkle in her eyes.

Chris looked at her, "Wait you have ingredients for hot chocolate in your bag?"

"Just get on my level Chris." She chuckled.

Josh laughed and turned around to the door, letting Chris and Liliana share a look before approaching him.

"Dammit! This freaking thing…" Josh complained as he tried to unlock the door.

"It's iced?" Chris asked.

"What else." Josh said rhetorically

"Aw…" Liliana sighed.

"Maybe there's another way in," Chris suggested.

"There are a million ways in. They're just all locked." Josh told him, still trying to work around the frozen doorknob.

"There's gotta be like, a window round the corner we can get, like, "get open" or something." Chris said.

Liliana cocked an eyebrow at him, "Chris, are you suggesting us…?"

"Break in?" Josh finished her sentence, "Wait a second, are you saying we should break in?" he repeated.

Chris snorted, "I don't think it's technically breaking in if you own the place, right?"

"He has a point," Liliana nodded.

"Hey." Josh turned around, "Not if I don't report you two."

"Umm…" Chris blinked surprised and stood there awkwardly.

Liliana smirked, "Oh really?"

Josh chuckled at Chris's expression, "Lead the, Cochise!" he waved his arm behind Chris, telling him to descend the stairs.

"Wait me?"

"It was your idea." Liliana uttered, imitating Josh's arm, "Lead the way."

Chris shook his head and started to walk down the stairs, Liliana and Josh followed but instead of walking ahead, Chris turned back to Ashley at the ends of the stairs and greeted her. Liliana quickly grabbed Josh's hand and pulled him to the beginning of a path towards the back of the lodge, she didn't see the look he sent at her because Liliana was busy watching her favorite couple of dorks awkwardly flirt.

"Hey Ash…"

"Hey Chris…" the red-haired smiled timidly at him.

"So… how're you doing?" Chris asked with a confident smile.

Ashley shrugged, "Mm… good! But… a little cold. I think I could use some time curled up by the fire…" she said with a hint on her smile.

Chris smirked, "Yeah… that does sound pretty nice."

Liliana and Josh followed Chris as he went down the path toward Matt and Sam, he suddenly stopped to crouch down and grab something from the snow. Liliana was surprised to see yet another wooden totem just lying around. This one was… yellow. She wondered what Chris saw, he had the same expression when Sam found that one but like her, she seemed to have forgotten about it.

 **+Guidance Totem+**

After placing it back on the snow, Chris turned around to continue the path to the back of the lodge, but Liliana stopped when she noticed Matt again. She couldn't really walk away when he had that expression; she tugged on Josh's vest.

"You guys go ahead, I'll see what's wrong with Matt," she told him.

Josh looked at Matt and frowned with a nod, "Yeah… he doesn't seem alright," he looked down at Liliana and offered a weak smile, "See ya then."

She walked back still locking her eyes with his, when they both turned at the same time, she shook away her feelings and focused now on Matt. He might've screwed up last year but he had shown how much sorry he was.

When she got in front of him, he didn't notice her, "Hey Matt…"

"Oh, Lily. Hey." He was able to smile a little.

"So what's up?"

"Some people…" he muttered.

"Emily?"

"Yeah, she made me carry all the bags up the mountain and now I don't know where she is."

"I'm sure she's fine, just… you know how she is. I haven't seen her since February of last year but I'm sure she didn't change much." Liliana claimed.

Matt smiled at her, "Yeah."

After that short conversation Liliana headed back to the boys, she walked through the same path where they disappeared into, when she was in the middle to turn around the corner, she heard yet another stick being cracked, again she looked at the area where the sound came from but this time she didn't feel like to question what was it – she was alone and scared. So she paced quickly around the corner and showed relief when Josh and Chris came into her view.

They were looking at an axe holder, with no axe. She approached them quietly but the sound of her boots crushing the snow gave her presence away. Josh looked at her amusedly.

"Oh hey Lillian, nice of you to join us," Josh stated loudly.

"Hello boys, found something yet?" she asked with a nervous smile of being caught.

"Well, I found this axe holder." Chris pointed out, "How's Matt?"

"You don't wanna know, let's just get inside, I'm freezing my bun out here." She looked around and shivered, passing by Josh and Chris.

"See, I told you." Josh remarked.

Chris walked ahead and backed away to a metallic table, Liliana didn't know what it was but it was locked. Josh must've understood what he meant so he went to the other side of that table.

"Well well well. We got ourselves a thinker. Nice one." Josh praised.

The two started moving the table, Chris would push and Josh pulled, they were moving under a window, Liliana grinned, realizing at least that the window was half-open.

"Fell free to help," Chris grunted.

"Nah, I'm giving moral support. Go you guys, you can do it!" Liliana threw her hands up and cheered.

Josh chuckled, "I can feel myself getting stronger."

When they finally stopped pushing and pulling, Josh addressed for him to go up with a gesture, when Chris started to climb, Josh and Liliana approached the teen quickly, when the blond was standing he lost his balance and he almost fell back, Josh and Liliana readied themselves to catch him but he was able to catch his balance again.

However, when he opened the window, Liliana's jaw dropped when the blond literally did nothing but to throw his body inside like a rag doll. She winced when a loud thud came from inside and when Chris groaned. Josh rushed quickly to climb the table, worried that his friend might've gotten seriously injured. Liliana also climbed, with his help. They both looked down at Chris from the window expectantly.

"Christopher?" Liliana called softly.

"Ugh… I'm okay!" he winced as he moved around like an upside down turtle, "I should have paid more attention in climbing class…"

Josh looked perplexed, "You mean "gym"?"

Liliana snickered.

"Yeah, you know, with the climbing up the rope-" Chris said while standing up, he had his hand pressed on his back and his expression showed pain.

Liliana was about to say something funny but suddenly the turned on light bulb exploded, literally exploded. She let out a small squeal and gripped onto Josh's arm.

"Whoa," he observed, staring at it.

"Did I do that?" Chris asked more to himself than to anyone.

"I don't…I don't think so." Josh replied unsure, he looked around Chris's area but saw nothing. He looked at Liliana and smirked, "Did the wittle bulb scare ya?"

"Shut up," she snapped half-heartedly, letting go of his arm.

Josh turned back at Chris and roamed around his pocket, "Here, use this." He threw an object at Chris.

Chris turned it on and Liliana tilted her head when she saw a lighter. Why would Josh have one?

Chris turned his back at them and waved the lighter around to see the area. But at the same time, Josh seemed to have an idea, at least that's what Liliana saw from his expression.

"Whoa – Chris – I just got an awesome idea." He spoke.

"Yeah?"

"No awesome idea comes related with fire," Liliana mumbled.

"No, no, it's totally good." Josh remarked, looking between her and Chris.

"Well what is it?!" Chris asked.

"Okay. So. I am PRETTY sure that I've got some deodorant in one of the bathrooms…you could use THAT with the LIGHTER…"

"I don't-I don't follow. How's a stick of deodorant gonna help?" Chris questioned confused.

"Oh-" Liliana eyes gleamed when she realized what Josh meant, he glanced at her in acknowledge and smirked.

"Spray on. It's a can." Josh explained patiently.

"Ohhh…yeah… Now I gotcha." Chris smiled as he pointed at Josh.

"Flamethrower." Josh concluded.

"Just like we do with the lil' army dudes." Chris expressed excited.

"Yup. The ones we melted. Just point the spray-can at the lighter and FWOOSH." Josh made an invisible line with his hands.

Chris finished with a fake explosion, "Bye-bye frozen lock."

"Bingo." Josh nodded as he looked behind Liliana to the path, "Alright, so you got this. I'm gonna go sort something out – you up for hunting around in the dark for a little bit?"

Chris looked back and turned with a shrug, "Nope. But I'll do it."

"Godspeed pilgrim!" Josh imitated a voice that Liliana wasn't able to recognize, it was familiar though, she had watched a lot of movies with him so sometimes Josh would sneak some quotes from their movies into conversations. He jumped down, leaving Liliana alone with Chris.

"Be careful alright?" she told him.

"I will mother!" Chris whined.

She chuckled and felt a pair of arms around her waist, she yelled as her body was pulled down but instead of the snowy ground, she found herself on Josh's arms.

"God dammit Joshua!" she squealed.

He laughed and put her down, "Sorry, you were taking too much time."

"What?! I wasn't! And besides, I can go back by myself." She raised her chin and crossed her arms, pretending to be offended.

He paused.

"O-Okay then, you sure you gonna be fine?" he asked.

She blinked, her feigning dissipated, "Yeah, s-sure…" she looked back, "It's a short walk."

"Alright, so… I'll join you guys in a minute." He decided.

* * *

She had joined Sam and Ashley who were standing right outside the lodge's door, she was leaning against one of the pillars, looking thoughtful, she felt like Josh was… off back there. He seemed really strange.

"We're freezing out bus off out here!" Ashley suddenly complained.

There was some movement around the inside of the entrance, then a bright yellow light was emitted, Chris did it. He used a homemade flamethrower on the frozen door knob, Liliana actually smiled at that, but it dropped when he decided to immediately open the door – with the burning knob. Liliana walked and waited between Ashley and Sam, looking at Chris as the door flew open.

"Thank you, thank you thank you, I'll be here all week-" he bowed with a smug smile.

But then his smugness was broken by a rather feminine squeal as something gray and furry passed between the girls. Liliana didn't know what the hell it was but she held her chest and coughed dryly.

"Jeez!" Chris sighed.

Ashley and Sam broke into a fit of laughter and Liliana only joined them seconds later, remembering Chris's squeal and jump.

"Crap that thing freaked me out." He told them, trying to get at least some dignity back.

"What was it? Are you okay?" Ashley asked between giggles.

"It was a demon, definitely." Liliana nodded with a smirk.

"It was like a, bear or a tiger or something –" Chris tried to explain as he looked back and where the animal had run off to.

"Aw it was just a cute little baby wolverine." Sam cooed with a baby voice.

"Baby?" Chris asked sarcastically.

Josh suddenly popped next to Liliana, "Don't worry buddy, you're gonna be a big boy soon." He grinned; obviously he witnessed what just happened.

The girls looked at him with still big smiles on their face but Liliana simply shook her head. They always walked inside the lodge, following Josh who passed by everyone. Liliana saw Matt coming up the stairs so she waited for him, the two walked inside after sharing a brief smile and headed to the main living room area, it was heart of the lodge. Long couches covered with white blankets, a giant coffee table with elegant small marbled sculptures, a large chandelier in a shape of a stringed ball and high, massive windows, and a HD TV plasma that almost filled the hole wall upwards the fireplace. Liliana looked up and saw the stairs that led upstairs and downstairs, she also followed each wooden bridge connected in the lodge, oh the fun memories.

"Home sweet home!" Josh declared, standing almost in the middle of the area with his arms open.

"Sweet is not the word I'd use." Matt commented as he placed down his and Emily's bags by the floor.

"Oh my gosh it's SO GOOD to be inside. Even if it's kinda freezing in here." Ashley expressed in relief.

"I'll get a fire going," Josh said quickly as he moved toward the fireplace.

Liliana simply flopped down on the black lathered couch covered with the blanket; she looked at the ceiling and noticed how much her eyes burned from not sleeping the usual nine hours that she usually went through every night. She had only been able to rest her eyes and mind for three hours, and she almost made Sam lose the bus when she woke up late.

"This place barely looks any different," Matt noted while looking around.

"Yeah, nobody's been up here." Josh replied.

"Even with all the police coming in and out?" Ashley asked while looking around too, she, Sam and Chris were walking towards the stairs.

"Not a lot of action up here lately," Chris explained shortly.

"Nope." Josh mumbled, more to himself.

Liliana undressed her backpack and placed it on her knees, she zipped the smaller pocket open and took out her precious Ventolin inhaler, looking around, she shook it and breathed in one puff, she inhaled and exhaled calmly before shaking the inhaler again and puffing once again in her mouth. She guarded her inhaler back in her bag and placed it next to her.

Then she screamed internally when she looked to the fireplace, Josh was looking at her. No, he was glaring. But not with menace, he was simply glaring intently. She mouthed him a 'what' but he replied but turning back and try to make a fire.

"What's up party people?" Mike greeted loudly as he waltzed inside the area with his arms open and a huge smile.

"Heeey!" Jessica sung as she waved at everyone.

"Hey!" Josh greeted.

Liliana looked at the two and couldn't help but to smile, Jessica looked so happy, it didn't suit the situation at all. But that was Jess for you, she didn't care about what other felt.

"Make yourself at home, bro." Josh said from his crouched position.

Jessica smiled at Liliana as she sat in the same couch as her, the brunette smiled back.

"Will do!" Mike approved.

"Yeah. Come on in. Take a load off. Have whatever you want." Matt said, standing up from one of the sofas, he walked towards Mike with an unhappy expression and Liliana looked between the wary and thoughtful.

"You just take whatever you want anyways, right?" Matt said coolly.

 **MATT – WASHINGTON LODGE**

 **22:28**

"Whoa," Mike said, taken back by his sudden hostility, "…easy there, cowboy."

"Mike, stay away from my girlfriend." Matt warned.

"Dude – what are you talking about?" Mike said, genuinely confused.

"Stay away from Emily," Matt remarked, raising his voice a little.

"Emily? Why would I want anything to do with Emily?" Mike asked, raising his voice a little as well.

"Right… Right." Matt said slowly.

"Something going on with you, man?" Mike implied carefully.

"Forget it," Matt responded, backing away from him, "I lost my head," he said calmly, "Been a long day."

"Yeah, well… try not to lose it again." Mike suggested with a serious expression.

In Liliana's words, she hasn't seen a cock fight in a long time but this was stupid, she was glad Matt was stable enough to back off. She doesn't think nobody was in a mood for a fight, especially Josh.

Matt walked back and sat down where he was. Mike walked toward Jess and sat next to her, he winked jokingly at Liliana, earning a playful scoff from Jess and an eye roll from the Portuguese herself. He wrapped his arm around Jess's shoulder and brought her closer to himself. Liliana tensed a little when she noticed Emily walking inside with a poisoned smile, it got worse when she looked at the affection displayed by the couple.

"Here we go…" Liliana whispered to herself.

"Oh. My. God. That is so gross." She walked a little closer to the fireplace and crossed her arms, still with the same ironic smile in her face, "Are you trying to swallow his face whole?" she scoffed, looking at Jessica.

"Em…" Matt sighed.

"Seriously can she be any more obvious?" Em almost laughed. Matt stood up and walked almost next to her, "No one wants in on your territory, honey." She taunted with a sweet voice.

"Excuse me, did you say something?" Jessica rose from her seat.

"Oh did you not hear me? Was you sluttiness too loud?" Emily replied with open arms, approaching her ex-best friend.

Liliana glared at Mike, he was just sitting there and watching the show. At least Matt had the decency to stand up in case things get too brusque.

"Sounds like someone's bitter she didn't make the cut." Jess joked, looking back at Mike.

"Yeah. It's all a big cattle call with that dreamboat. Congrats, you're top cow." Em said ironically and with seconds intentions on her words.

"Cuts real deep calling Miss Homecoming a cow." Jessica snapped quickly.

Matt looked extremely uncomfortable.

"H-Hey, you're making everyone uncomfortable, Jess-" he started.

"Jealous much?" Jess replied too softly with a hand on her hip, "Emily too frigid for you, too?"

"Hey that's… that's uncalled… look-" he tried to defend himself.

"Whatever," Jess turned back at Mike with a grin, "I don't give a crap what you think."

"At least I can thin. 40, bitch, honor roll." Emily allege proudly, gesturing to herself, "Suck on that when you're trying to sleep your way into a job."

Liliana had to admit that Emily's GPA it was impressive.

"Who needs grades when you've got all the natural advantages you can handle," Jess stated, brining you her dream of being a model.

"Oh please," Em rolled her eyes.

"You couldn't buy a moldy loaf of bread with your skanky ass." Jessica added.

Em quickly scoffed, "Are you serious? Do you think that insulting?" she stared at Jessica indifferently.

The blond turned at her silent boyfriend and pointed at her, "That bitch is on crack or something!" she argued.

"Jessica, you need to shut your mouth, okay?" Matt said in defense of his girlfriend. Liliana smiled at him, he was so sweet, even to someone like Em, and by the looks of the half-Japanese teen, she acknowledged that as well.

"No, you're the one who needs to keep your nose out of other's people's business!" she snapped at him.

"I'm about to get right up in your business you bitch-" Emily stated firmly as she approached Jessica again.

"Are we about to get real? Cause I am down to get real." Jess taunted confidently, closing the personal space between them.

Liliana cocked an eyebrow at the two; she was prepared to separate that stupid little fight that Mike was enjoying.

"STOP IT!" Josh finally yelled, "This is not why we came up here. This is not… helping." He looked at the two, "It's not what I wanted."

"Josh…" Liliana started, he send her a look saying that he was alright, she nodded but kept looking at him worriedly, "If we can't get along for ten minutes then maybe we need a little bit of break, right?" he looked at Mike, "Mike – why don't you check out the guest cabin. The one I told you about." He suggested while Jess and Em faced each other in a glaring contest.

Mike nodded quietly, "Yeah…" he stood up, "Yeah, alright." He extended his hand towards Jessica, "Want to go do that?"

"Any place without that whore." Jess spat as she grabbed his hand.

"I remember when you would slap the person who called her that," Liliana sighed sadly.

Jessica looked at her and her angry expression flattered into a shocked one, she didn't say anything though, she just walked with Mike toward one of the backdoors that led to the woods.

"It's right up the trail." Josh explained as they walked.

When they were gone, Emily turned at Matt, who was pretending his head just had a huge explosion.

"Phew!"

He turned towards Josh, who was now back at trying to light up a fire, "…Glad that's over."

"Yeah." He agreed.

Matt approached him more, "So Josh… Uh, should we get this fire going?" he asked, staring the weak fire.

"Where's my bag?" Emily suddenly asked, interrupting whatever Josh was about to say.

"Huh?" Matt let out confusedly.

"My bag! The… the little bag with the pink pattern! The one I got on Rodeo." She clarified, pointing at the two bags on the floor, "Matt, are-are you listening?" she repeat, now upset about his vacant expression, "Oh my God, don't you remember? Next to the Italian shoe place where I got the stilettos and you knocked over the rack while you were drooling all over that girl at the counter?"

Josh smirked at him and Liliana raised her two eyebrows.

"Well, I mean," he started embarrassedly, "she was asking about my letter jacket-"

"Right. Because she gave a shit about your "designer" letter jacket," Emily affirmed sarcastically.

"Why do you hate my jacket?" Matt asked, walking towards her.

"MATT I need MY BAG!" she snapped half-heartedly, letting him know that his jacket didn't matter at the moment.

"Oh my God Em, maybe you just forgot it-" he tried.

"Do you serious think I'd forget my bag?" she interjected.

"Well, I-"

"Do you?"

"Guess not."

"You must have left it down by the cable car station." She presumed.

He groaned.

"C'mon hun. We'll be back soon." She begged rhetorically.

"And then we can get warm?" he asked hopefully.

She smiled at him, "We can get _very_ warm."

That cheered him up, "Okay. Okay let's go."

Even though he still looked like he wasn't the in the mood to go back, he followed her back to the main door. Liliana sighed.

"Good to see you too Emily!" she yelled, her voiced echoed through the lodge and she felt some eyes on her.

There was a pause and Matt was looking at the hidden Emily behind the wall.

"Y-Yeah, you look good." She said before Matt continued walking, they were gone.

It was silence for a moment, with Josh trying to light up a fire, Chris and Ashley talking with each other with their eyes and Liliana watching Josh.

Sam suddenly stood up from her seat on the stairs, "Okay, I am gonna go take a bath." She announced as she went up the stairs.

Liliana smiled at her and let out a sigh, she lied down on the couch, making her bag her pillow and made herself lay into a comfortable position.

"Well that was dramatic," she said out loud, waiting for someone to reply.

"What do you think it would happen?" Josh snorted.

"I dunno, I really have no idea what to expect for this weekend," she lied on her side so she could look at Josh, "I hope I don't die frozen,"

"I'm trying…" Josh mumbled focused.

"Just teasing ya," she grinned, thinking how cute he looked when he as concentrated.

"How's your asthma?" he suddenly asked, taking her back.

"It's fine." Was her immediate reply.

"You sure?"

"Yep,"

"So would you be up for a marathon?"

"Uh, I'm never up for running. If you ever see me running you should like, run too because something is coming after me,"

He chuckled, "Mentally noted,"

"Good. Good… let me know if you need help with that fire Joshua." She closed her eyes.

"… Nah, you already give me enough Lillian."

Her heart skipped a beat.

* * *

 **A/N: Good lord, I'm sorry for being late on this update. As soon as you start writing canon it gets complicated.**

 **But it's done, with grammatical mistakes and weak plot but it's delivered and done. I literally woke up early just to finish this.**

 **I hope you liked it! ^^**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS: (at the end of this chapter)**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 8/10**

 **Funny: 6/10**

 **Brave: 6/10**

 **Romantic: 6/10**

 **Curious: 8/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS: (at the end of this chapter)**

 **Ashley: 8/10**

 **Emily: 3/10**

 **Chris: 9/10**

 **Jess: 4/10**

 **Josh: 10/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 4/10 (Hmm watcha saaaay)**

 **Sam: 10/10**


	11. Loss

**Thank you all for the 64 reviews, 73 favorites, 139 follows and 8,100+ views!**

 **I remember when I started this story, there was only one page of fanfics for 'Until Dawn', and now there are six pages of them. I'm so happy we're growing quickly, if you're an 'Until Dawn' writer and you're reading this, keep doing the good job! :)**

* * *

They all stood around Josh as he tried to light up a fire, honestly, Liliana was at the point of suggesting the flamethrower idea but that idea vanished when she remembered how dangerous that could be. Josh sighed in frustration as the fire on the thick logs didn't pass from being ashes.

Speaking of ashes, Ashley walked next to Liliana, standing between her and Chris. They shared a brief smile, silently mocking the whole situation. Liliana cared about her, she did, last year Ashley seemed really excited to prank Hannah but maybe that was because everyone was as well, being one of the youngsters in the group, she wanted to fit in.

"Sammy!" Josh suddenly called upon loudly, looking upstairs.

"Whaaat?" Sam replied quickly.

"You wanna help me get this fire going?" he asked.

"Umm— well, I was just getting into the bath." she replied slowly and awkwardly.

"Oh," Josh paused and Liliana looked at him, "Well do you need any help with that?" he suggested jokingly.

The brunette rolled her eyes.

"Hardy har!" Sam said sarcastically with a smile on her voice.

Sam knew that Liliana liked Josh; they were best friends so basically they didn't hold any secrets. So Liliana was sure that Sam wouldn't hurt her, she couldn't. Liliana wasn't ready to be betrayed so soon, she was almost recovered from last year and if Sam stabs her in the back, she wouldn't take it, she would… would…

Liliana stopped her thoughts with widened eyes.

 _What the hell was that all about?!_ She yelled internally. She knew Sam, Sam wasn't like that. It was only a joke, why was she so… possessive? Josh wasn't hers, no one was hers, she couldn't own a human being, she couldn't think of the person that saved her from depression, the person that helped her finish school, the same person that stayed with her for hours, only to hear Liliana cry.

Sam was not on Liliana's bad list, Sam was her best friend. She cared about her, she loved her.

Yes, Sam was important and mattered.

Liliana visibly relaxed, like she wasn't debating with herself.

 **SAM – WASHINGTON LODGE**

 **22:44**

"Alright Josh, let's see if you know how to hook up the hot water in your big fancy lodge." Sam declared from upstairs.

"Wait, there's no hot water?" Liliana interrogated.

"Oops, maybe not..." Josh replied unsure.

"How am I supposed to melt the chocolate then?" she lamented half-heartedly.

"How is she supposed to melt the chocolate then?" Chris repeated with his hands on hips and a whiny high voice.

Liliana hit his shoulder playfully, "Keep that up and I'll make your hot chocolate bitter."

Josh grinned at the pair, "Don't worry Lillian, I'll give you hot water." He was still focused on the fire when he said that, "C'mon…" he begged quietly.

"How long do you think it'll take him?" Chris asked the girls.

"My money's on blankets for everyone." Ashley deadpanned.

Liliana chuckled, "I think it's only a matter of time, remember, man make fire." She did a raspy voice and exaggerated on a voice that would belong only to a Homo sapiens.

"Oh my God," Ashley hold a snort.

"Alright peanut gallery," Josh said referring to Ashley, "you know what? I got an idea for Chris and you."

"What?" Ashley asked with humor.

"Okay well, I am pretty sure that somewhere in this crazy place we used to have… a spirit board." Josh said.

"A what?"

"Wow you have a "spirit board"?" Chris asked amazedly, "Those things are a joke, man. They don't do shit."

"No way bro. We used to do it all the time. Me, Lillian and… well…" Josh paused when he was about to mention his sisters.

It's true, whenever Liliana was invited to the lodge, the four of them would sneak up the spirit board to a dark room and "talk with them". Liliana was never able to go through the whole session; she'd leave the room and wait outside for them to finish it.

Fortunately Sam was just walking towards them to end the awkward silence, "Hey Josh. No hot water's kinda major oversight doncha think…?" Sam nagged with a hard smile.

"Yeah yeah, just gotta fire up the boiler. It's in the basement." He told her while pointing at the stairs that led down.

The group broke, Chris sat down and Ashley backed away to the further couch.

"I'll go with you. I need hot water as well." Liliana nodded as she walked to stand next to Sam, "Or no hot cocoa."

Josh looked at Chris and Ashley, "Alright, you guys see if you can find the spirit board."

Ashley seemed surprisingly excited about it, "Chris, let's go find it! It'll be like a scavenger hunt!" she looked at her crush with a huge smile before heading ahead on her on.

Chris's eyes followed her as she stood up, "Umm—okay… guess so…" he expressed indifferently. He glanced at Josh before walking where Ashley wondered off to catch up.

"Rad. You're not going to regret it." Josh smiled at him, then he turned to the girls, "You two are up for a ride along?" he started walking backwards.

"Uhm, I changed my mind. I'm gonna go to the kitchen and start preparing everything." Liliana asserted, changing her mind, "You guys go ahead."

"You sure?" Sam asked, confused about her friend's change of course.

"Ye—Yeah I'm sure," she glanced at the kitchen.

"I don't want you staying up here by yourself." Josh declared with worried eyes.

"Chris and Ash will be around, I'll be fine." Liliana retorted, "Seriously guys, go on." She walked back and grabbed her backpack from the couch, "I promised hot chocolate and I always keeps my promises," she sent a look at Josh, letting him know of what she was talking about.

She promised him to never leave his side.

He instantly calmed down and nodded, "Alright then just… holler if you need something."

"Yes sir." She paced towards the kitchen and heard Josh and Sam's steps walking away. After engulfing the silence, she rested her body against the wall and took a huge breath. Why did she change her mind?

Shaking her head, she began grabbing the needed objects for the preparations of her famous chocolate a du latte.

* * *

Liliana prepared 2 cups of sugar, 4 cups of cocoa, 1 tablespoon with table salt and a whole milk for serving.

However, she couldn't start without having her secret ingredient: a bar of white chocolate. She would melt it in Maria bath and she didn't know if the hot water was turned on or not. Placing the bar next to the ingredients, she made her way out of the kitchen to the living room, peaking down from the rail toward the lower floor. She was debating if she should go down or just wait patiently.

Her thoughts however, were interrupted when a loud hammering of fists startled the color of her face. She heard Sam yell something but she couldn't clear out what it was from there so she quickly descended the stairs, holding onto the handrail to not fall, and run to the door that led to the basement.

"Sam? Joshua?!" she yelled, trying to pull the door open.

"Lily?! OPEN THE DOOR!" Sam yelled, banging her fists once more.

"I can't!" Liliana cried. She was starting to tremble in fear, she tried to look around, hoping to find something to break the doorknob but there was nothing strong enough to handle it.

Silence came and Liliana grew worried.

"…WHAT THE HELL?" Sam yelled from inside, her voice was croaky, she had been running.

Liliana rested her ear on the door and heard the conversation inside.

"Boom! You just got monked!" Chris's voice came to sound.

Liliana almost fell into her knees with relief; it was just another silly prank of his.

"WHAT?!" she heard Sam yell angrily.

Josh simply chuckled, "Nice. Nice one that was good." He sounded legit happy.

"Why w… Why would you do that?!" Sam asked with a yell, still recovering from the scare.

Liliana didn't want to hear the rest, she had to sit down and— she froze. Her inhaler was upstairs and she was on the verge of having an attack from all the adrenaline and scary moment. She didn't want the others to see her like this; she ignored the tightness of her chest and the wheezing and quickly run through the stairs, skipping two steps ahead. She almost tripped in the last one but it was worthy, she panicked when the door from the basement opened, running again, she headed to the kitchen and shoved her hand inside her bag, taking out the inhaler, she shook it and took in two puffs without pausing. She exhaled and inhaled, then she took another two puffs and coughed.

"Dammit,"

After taking another puff, the pain in her chest was gone, she was happy to feel the pressure sensation that her chest gave whenever she the inhaler was taking his affect, the wheezing was gone and she could now breathe.

She was going to kill Chris.

Liliana smirked and guarded the inhaler back in her bag as she heard the others already in the living room. When she left the kitchen, Ashley walked in on them at the same time. Liliana took a look at Chris and cocked a brow.

"What… in God's name… are you wearing?" the reddish brown haired teen asked.

Chris clicked his tongue and made the cross symbol in front of Ashley, "I found my true calling." He said seriously.

Josh moved next to Liliana and stared at her flushed cheeks that she still had from running, he passed by her silently and stood in front of the fireplace.

Ashley hummed, "Please tell me you're going to take a vow of silence." She begged interested with her hands together, as if she was praying.

Cue to Chris pretending to be talking without his voice. Sam shook her head with a smile behind them and Ashley chuckled shortly.

"Okay okay… Did you at least find the thingy?" she asked while looking at him fondly.

Out of the monk's outfit, Chris removed the Ouija board, "Boi-oi-oi-oing!" he said with a comical falsetto in his voice, he passed by Ashley, "Here's our one way ticket to the spirit realm…!" he announced.

"Hmm…" Ashley commented excitedly.

Liliana sighed.

"You know what? You know what? No," Sam started, "I've just been through enough spooking for one night, okay? I see a hot bath in my crystal ball." She waved at them and started heading upstairs, Josh hummed, "Alright? So have fun!" she paused mid step, "Oh and watch out for that Josh, he's a schemer!" she whispered the last part to add a scary voice before finally disappearing.

"Okay," Josh mumbled.

Liliana wasn't in the mood for an Ouija board session.

"Me too, and besides I have hot chocolate to make… have fun communicating with spirits that don't wanna be disturbed," she looked at them, "I swear if you guys unleash a poltergeist I am outta here."

"Oh c'mon Lily, you gotta play with us." Ashley begged.

"Nah it's fine," Josh cut Ashley with a wave, "Hey coffee girl, put a smell on mine alright? Just something strong." He winked at her.

She groaned playfully, "Is anyone taking more requests?"

"I want mine without milk." Chris nodded.

"Lots of milk on mine!" Ashley said at the same time.

They looked at each other and created an awkward silence.

Josh chuckled and shook his head, "Let's go peanut gallery, Cochise, we got a ghost to talk with."

Liliana just walked back, without glancing at her crush first.

Josh was watching her walk away intently.

* * *

They were right upstairs; she could hear some vacant voices but all whispers.

Liliana poured her finished hot chocolate in five mugs; the other four ones were left empty because their owners were gone in the woods looking for a cabin and for a missing pink bag.

She pouted, usually Emily was the most expectant to get Liliana's hot chocolate and now, they barely shared a decent conversation. She seemed to be in a very bad mood just half an hour ago.

Liliana yawned and grabbed her phone from her pocket. It was already eleven in the evening. She had only slept three hours in the night before so she knew that her bed was going to be used even before midnight. It would suck because she knew they liked to stay up late.

The whispers suddenly stopped when Ashley screamed loudly. Liliana decided to go check on them after hearing that, she exited through the kitchen into the living room and walked upstairs into the small room where they were using the board.

"Listen, I don't know… I don't know if you think messing with me is somehow going to help me deal with my grief, or whatever, but this is not cool." She heard Josh tell them with a hurt and angry expression.

"What happened?" she made herself present, looking at everyone. Ashley looked terrified while Chris amazed.

"Josh no! You wanted to use the spirit board—" Ashley cut him quickly, she looked desperate.

They ignored Liliana, but Josh looked at her when he passed by in direction to the door.

"Hey—" Liliana tried again.

"Hey calm down, it's not Ash's fault!" Chris told him defensively.

"I don't need this right now, okay?! You guys are full of it!" Josh yelled at him as he disappeared into the darkness of the outside.

Liliana considered going after him but she wanted answers, she wanted to know why Josh was so scared and angry at the same time.

"Sh—Should we go after him?" Ashley stuttered, asking Chris.

"Ah man… I mean, he'll be okay. Let's… let's just give him some time." Chris shrugged tiredly.

"I don't blame him… that was crazy… The pointer flew right off the table!" Ashley grimaced glancing down at the object.

"What?!" Liliana exclaimed.

"Yeah, we were talking with Beth and she said that someone killed Hannah and that there's proof in the library…" she added, looking at Liliana with scared green eyes.

"I mean if-if you were faking it you were doing one hell of a job—" Chris started.

"I wasn't faking anything!" Ashley interrupted him gravely, "I think we should do what it says, we should look in the library." She stood up with the candle on the table and looked at Liliana, "You should come with us." She said looking at the corridor where Josh disappeared.

"Do you really think the girls were communicating with us?" Chris asked seriously while standing up as well.

"I don't know. I don't know if I wish they were or I wish they weren't." she admitted weakly.

"But... if they were, maybe we should do what they told you guys right?" Liliana suggested.

"That's what I said." Chris nodded.

 **ASHLEY – WASHINGTON LODGE LIBRARY**

 **23:44**

Liliana could forget about sleeping in early, this mattered more than sleeping.

"I guess we should find out." Chris said while looked down at the corridor as well.

"I'm definitely coming with you guys." Liliana alleged firmly.

"Good," Ashley smiled.

"Alright," Chris send her a grin.

Ashley wondered to the opposite side where Josh went and paused in front of a drawer. She grabbed something pink and Liliana narrowed her eyes on what she was seeing.

"Huh?" Ashley muttered as she held Hannah's glasses case on her hands.

"What is _that_ doing here?" Liliana sneered, with a shiver down her spine.

"I have no idea…" Ashley replied, looking at the floor lost in thoughts.

They all walked down the stairs to the library, Liliana was the last in line and she felt anxious about that. The wind from the outside and the steps of the teens stomping on the wooded floor was the only noise around, Liliana followed them to a small room with high bookshelves, the smell of dust covered her noise so she couldn't help but to sneeze.

She saw Ashley suddenly kneel down in front of a small floorboard, an orange light was coming down below and both girls shared a look of mutual confusion.

 **CLUE FOUND: LIGHT FROM BELOW**

"Whoa… did you see that?" Chris commented about the light.

"Yeah…" the red haired slowly said while standing up.

"But the power is not even on…" Liliana remarked.

"I was about to say the same thing," Chris nodded.

"Weeeird…" Ashley breathed, walking around again with a worried expression.

They walked to the other library room, one smaller and with a lower ceiling, which meant it was darker, Liliana stuck closer to her group while looking around and when she was about to say something to lighten up the mood, a book suddenly flew by the shelf in front of them and dropped on the floor, almost hitting Chris. Liliana screamed, Ashley yelped and Chris as able to dodge it in time.

"Jesus! Look out!" Chris warned.

"Porra*" Liliana squealed.

"Ah! Chris!" Ashley panicked, "Holy crap."

More books fell from the shelf, allowing them to see some kind of small gray button, a switch.

"What was that?! Why did the—oh screw this! I told you guys I didn't mess around with poltergeists!" Liliana said while standing between the two and glaring at the "haunted" books on the floor.

"Are you two okay?" Chris asked while trying to not crack his voice.

"I think so…" Ashley quickly replied, still a little scared.

"Y—Yeah… I'm fine." Liliana said, coughing a little, "Man that scared me…"

"Yeah no shit, what was that?" Ashley cried, she glanced at the shelf where the books once where and pointed at it surprised, "—look!"

"What?" Chris asked, not taking his eyes of her instead.

Liliana followed her friend's stare and blinked confusedly.

"There was something behind the books." Ashley stated taking a step forward, "What is that?"

Chris finally noticed and approached it as well. He narrowed his eyes at it, "Is it a button?"

"I think so…" Liliana affirmed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Why would there be a button?" Ashley asked.

"That's a good question," Chris retorted.

"Should I push it?"

"That's what buttons are for I guess," he said while pointing at it.

"Is it really a good idea though?" Liliana looked at Chris.

"It's just a button." He shrugged.

"You clearly need to watch more cartoons Chris…" Liliana mumbled as she watched Ashley press the tiny button.

Suddenly the noise of cords and a machine started working around the room and the shelf ahead of them started moving and opening like a door.

"Whoa, panel opens, head explodes!" Chris said excitedly, he had a huge grin on his face when a dark and secret room appeared within their sights.

"Of course there's a secret room," Liliana pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Are we like, in a movie right now?!" Ashley said dumbfounded while looking inside it.

Chris still looked like a kid in a candy shop, "If we are I hope it's a rom-com," Chris joked, which made no one laugh.

"Leave it to the Washington's to have secret passages on their house." Ashley said dryly.

"Do you think there's more around the lodge?" Liliana asked puzzled.

"Maybe…" she mumbled.

"Or maybe they don't even know. This place is super old." Chris stated while looking around.

"I'm never buying super old and giant houses," Liliana promised loudly.

"So… should we take a look?" Ashley suggested unsure.

"Yeah after you," Chris told her, waving at the dark room.

Ashley backed away quickly, "N-No no nonono, you go,"

 **CHRIS – WASHINGTON LODGE LIBRARY**

 **23:19**

"Gee thanks," Chris grumbled as he snapped the candle of her hand.

"I… volunteer as tribute?" Liliana sheepishly said with her hand up.

Chris raised a brow, "You don't even like the Hunger Games,"

She shrugged, "It's a famous quote."

He sighed, "Stay with Ash," he shook his head before going inside.

 **CLUE FOUND: PORTRAIT PHOTO**

"Whoa," Chris said from inside.

Ashley and Liliana shared a worried and anxious expression.

"What?"

"Chris, are you alright?"

"Whoa… is this…?" he mumbled.

"What did you find?" Ashley asked impatiently.

 **CLUE FOUND: THREATENING LETTER**

They finally peeked inside the room and saw Chris standing in front of a small table and looking at something on his hand.

"…holy cow…" he breathed.

"N-Now Ash… Lils… I-I-I don't want to freak you two out but… but look at this," Chris said with a trembling but honest voice.

"WHAT? CHRIS what IS that?!" Ashley panicked from his words.

"I… I think this might be what the spirit board wanted us to find—"

Liliana remained quiet.

"The clue?" Ashley asked hopefully.

"Yeah!" he delivered, "It's a letter."

"Let me see it!" she demanded.

He walked to the girls and handed Ashley a photo of Hannah and Beth, when the red haired turned it around Liliana paled when she read the message at the same time Ashley did.

 **I WILL TAKE THEM AND  
BLEED THEM LIKE PIGS AND  
RIP THEIR SOFT WHITE SKIN  
OFF!**

 **FUCKING** **16** **YEARS**

 **16 YEARS I WAITED FOR  
PRETTY LITTLE HANNAH AND  
BETH**

Liliana couldn't look at it more; the writing was so angry and aggressive. She looked away and covered her mouth.

"It's a… threat." He explained further, looking worriedly at Liliana.

"Chris. This is serious. We need to find Josh right now." Ashley stated with a hint of panic and seriousness on her voice.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Liliana commented, becoming pale.

"Jesus calm down," Chris grabbed her shoulder, "Let's go find Josh and then we'll talk about this better, alright?"

She nodded and started walking back with them. Liliana couldn't help but to glance back at the open secret room. What more secrets did this house held?

They walked back to the previous open area and to make things worse, the sound of a creaky door opening was heard. Ashley immediately clinged onto Liliana's arm as Chris led hem.

"Uhhh? …What was that?" Ashley cooed mortified.

"Dunno and don't wann—it was the door. Yeah, the door opened." Liliana groaned, not wanting to go through there. But they had no choice.

They walked inside and paced through a long corridor, the girls walked behind Chris all the time. Suddenly he turned left and faced a dead end, the only getaway? Another closed door. However before doing all that, Chris stopped by some drawers at the dead end and picked up something on it, it was a letter.

 **CLUE FOUND: NATIVE AMERICAN LETTER**

"Do you think someone was really after Hannah and Beth?" Ashley asked, loosening the grip on Liliana's arm a bit.

"If so, that would be really messed up," he replied while checking the letter with serious eyes.

"Hannah wouldn't even harm a bird…" Liliana sighed with sad eyes at the destiny that her friends had faced unfairly so.

"Looks like it was written by Josh's mom," Chris declared as he placed the letter back in its place.

"Yeah she's really making an effort to set things right with some native tribe or something." Ashley commented.

"There's no way you can't respect her…" Liliana said with a smile, her sad eyes were still fixed on the letter.

"Yeah…" Chris agreed, "But the bad karma goes back around a long way."

"Ditto," the brunette mumbled.

Chris moved and finally opening the door, leading the girls in a yet another dark and long corridor, if Liliana learned something from her online gaming with Chris and Josh was that long corridors were never to be trusted. They were finally back at the lodge's entrance and she relaxed more when the moonlight illuminated the area through the windows. They walked back to the living room and Ashley finally let go of Liliana's arm.

"So, uhm…" Chris started, looking back at the girls, "I've just been thinking about something I saw earlier with Sam and Lily…"

"What?" Ashley asked.

Liliana tilted her head a bit in confusion.

"There was like this wanted poster – like full western-style, you know?" he continued nervously.

"Oh yeah…" Liliana acknowledge slowly.

"So?" Ashley pressed weakly.

"And Sam really thought there was someone following her and Lily around…"

"True. When we arrived we didn't stop hearing noises around us but we didn't really see anyone or anything…" Liliana supported.

Ashley looked back and forth between the two, "So… so what? You two are saying there's some criminal up on the mountain with us?" she was clearly starting to freak out.

Chris paused before continuing, "There was a message… on this answering machine I found and it—" he stuttered, "it was from this Sergeant saying there was this guy who had just gotten out of prison and there was nothing he could do…"

"What do you mean?" Ashley cut him quickly, her big eyes showed fear. Liliana placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, her as well was feeling scared about what Chris was saying but they needed to stay calm.

"He was saying like… like a warning." Chris revealed. "I mean… maybe that's whoever was down in the basement before."

"What?!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Under the floorboards… in the library," he elucidated, "The light. Well there was that guy I told you about—"

"Wow wow! Wait wait wait. What guy?!" Ashley interrupted him again, this time allowing the panic to fill her body and voice.

"The guy who threatened the Washington's…" he calmly said, "I mean he said he wanted to take revenge by burning the whole place down. A-And I found a crazy psycho letter!" Chris concluded.

Liliana shook her head in disbelief, he was actually right, his theory made sense!

"Chris, if this is your way of trying to make me – or even Lily – feel better… you're fired." Ashley said in a calm and angry voice.

When Liliana was about to make a witty comment, the doors that led to the kitchen – who Liliana noticed that were closed – shook violently, catching the attention of the three teens.

Ashley looked at Chris and Liliana before running to the doors, because Josh's voice in distress was heard. Liliana caught up with her and let the girl open the door, when she did Josh started screaming even more.

"What was that?" Chris asked.

"That was Josh!" Ashley replied.

"It's coming from the kitchen!"

"JOSH!" Ashley screamed to the kitchen, she wasn't seeing anything.

"JOSH! We're coming! Hold on!" Chris yelled.

"JOSHUA!" Liliana yelled in panic, she walked to enter inside the kitchen but suddenly Ashley was pulled inside quickly and the doors were shut closed.

"ASHLEY!" Liliana started banging on the door while Chris started to open the knob.

"Ashley!" he screamed in panic.

From inside, her yells were muffed and it looked like she was struggling.

"ASH HANG ON!" Liliana yelled, tearing up.

"Ash what's going on? Lemme in!" Chris sounded so lost and scared, when he started banging his shoulder on the door Liliana helped him. She wanted her back right now.

"Ugh!" Ash groaned, and then, no more sound came from the other side.

"Ashley?" he banged, Liliana did the same, "Are you okay?" another bang, "I'm…" bang "Gonna…" bang "Ugh!" finally, with the last bang from the two, they were able to break inside the kitchen, where the smell of Liliana hot chocolate was still floating around. Chris fell on the ground but Liliana only curved her body lower before gaining her balance back.

"Ash?" Chris stood up searching for her.

Liliana looked ahead and gasped at the sight of her friend lying on the floor unconscious, she backed away to the door without being able to stop trembling.

"A-Ashley…?" she mouthed.

"ASH!" Chris yelled when he finally saw her.

Everything happened so quickly, a figure dressed with a metal-black jumpsuit and a scary white clown mask with giant teeth came out of nowhere and punched Chris right in the jaw, knocking him down instantly. Liliana screamed and backed herself against the door behind her. The figure – no a man – stood there and stared at her for a moment. She looked at him with widened eyes on alert. He was wearing thick, stuffed suit with overalls that made him look huge and black gloves that boosted an alarm in her head, screaming that he could snap her neck easily with them. Then his mask… his horrible and scary mask… with two circle-shaped jade-black spiked side cracks and a nose crack placement, long dark hair, then its mouth showed a whole light bubblegum-pink gums with yellowish-white rot teeth.

The eyes were the worst feature, dark and doe and incredibly nightmare inducing.

"P-Please don't kill me…" she begged.

He tilted his head and approached her quickly, only now she noticed that he was carrying a tank with a mask attached, she yelped when he banged on the door right next to her ear, he was close, very close. She could hear the person behind the mask breathing heavily.

"Shh…" the voice came out robotic, "Sleep…" he softly cooed before violently pressing the mask on her mouth, her immediate respond was to struggle but he held her firmly by the hips, she tried to scream but the unknown gas entering her lungs was making her feel drowsy, slowly she began to lose focus and then her consciousness, and with a last glance towards the man, she croaked out her last words in desperation.

"Joshua…"

A sob was heard.

* * *

 **A/n: CLIFFHANGER :D**

 **Oh MY gOd so it begins uh? UH? ARE YOU ENTERTAINED?**

 **I'm sorry, I'm high on coffee, he was my only solution to finally finish writing this.**

 **WOHOO.**

 **SO, sorry for the grammatical mistakes, really I suck.**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 8/10**

 **Funny: 6/10**

 **Brave: 5/10**

 **Romantic: 5/10**

 **Curious: 7/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS:**

 **Ashley: 9/10**

 **Emily: 3/10**

 **Chris: 10/10**

 **Jess: 5/10**

 **Josh: 9/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 4/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**


	12. Loyalty - 4

**I'M BACK! Luckily I was able to pay everything in less than a week QUQ**

 **Now we get juicy uh? I'm going to delete that author note, I you don't know what happened, my wifi and cable was going to be cut and I didn't know when I would have it back.**

 **Thank you for the 71 reviews, 83 favorites, 154 followers and 9,800+ views.**

 **I wonder if this story will reach 100 reviews.**

* * *

 **LILIANA – WASHINGTON LODGE**

 **1:11**

 **FIVE HOURS UNTIL DAWN**

When Liliana opened her eyes again she felt warm and strangely comfortable. Her legs still felt numb and she was incredible thirsty. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes again, feeling them burn. She was confused and frightened and as se she started remembering what happened. With a gasp, she raised her body and looked around her with an uncontrollable breathing, her widened eyes wondered everywhere, searching for any sight of threat, but quite bizarrely she only found herself in Josh's bedroom, lying on his bed.

She immediately uncovered herself and rose from it, wary about everything. As she looked around, the first thing she saw was something different on his bedside table, a note and… her inhaler. Perplexed, she reached for the note and read the single word carefully.

 _ **Innocent**_

"What…?" she sniffed and furrowed her brows.

 **CLUE FOUND: PSHYCO'S NOTE**

She then grabbed her inhaler and took two puffs inside; she closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing down, for the sake of her disease and health.

"Chris? Josh? Mike? Emily?"

She looked at the door, "S-Sam?"

Steps approached her door and Liliana run towards it, "SAMANTHA?!"

"What the—Lily?" a shadow lowered on the door's end, "Is that you?"

"YES!" Liliana tried to twist the doorknob but it was locked, "Oh my God, Sam please take me outta here!" the brunette cried in panic.

"Y-You're locked inside?!" Sam yelled, "Ah wait, there's a key."

Liliana heard the lock on the door being worked on and when Sam finally opened it, the brunette glomped her into a tight hug. Sam was confused but she had to hug back, her friend looked so scared and…

"Lily you're trembling!" Sam gasped.

"Sam you're wearing a towel!"

"I was taking a bath."

Liliana stopped hugging her and stared at her friend with a pale expression, "You mean you… you don't know?"

"Don't know what? You know just forget it, I need some clothes! Are you part of this silly prank?" Sam crossed her arms and stared at her angrily, "Because this is not funny, at all."

"Sam what prank?! I was locked inside there for God knows how! What time is it?"

"T's like, almost twenty past one, why?"

"Oh my God… Almost one hour…" Liliana muttered while covering her face, then like she was hit with a lightning bolt, "Where's Ash and Chris?" she looked at Sam and grabbed her shoulders, "Where are they? Where's Joshua?"

Sam took her friend's tight grip off her naked shoulders and looked at her oddly, "I'm still trying to figure that."

"We have to go, now." She looked around warily, "He might be around," she grabbed Sam's hands and headed to the stairs.

"Who?"

"No time! We have to find the others and leave!" Liliana knew she could tell Sam about the psycho but she didn't want her friend to freak out, it was enough that she was walking around with a towel already.

"This is really getting out of hand, okay? It was all very funny, ha ha, look at Sam walking around in a towel but Lily is seriously freaking out, you guys didn't have to lock her and now I just really want this to be over, alright?" Sam yelled throughout the lodge.

"No one will hear you…" Liliana muttered lowly.

They reached the end of the stairs and Liliana halted to look around.

"Ashley? Christopher?" she yelled.

"You had enough?" Sam continued as she turned right, when Liliana followed, she finally noticed the balloons… and the arrows in them. They were following a path that someone wanted them to go and Liliana would bet on her blood that it was him… that clown masked bastard.

"Sam…" she tried. They passed by candles and more balloons, "Sam!" she wasn't liking the tension that was building.

They descended the stairs that led them to the lower floor, and Sam was too upset to mind her friend's calling.

"Okay, if you were trying to freak me and Lily out, guess what, you succeeded."

Liliana coughed and looked at yet another balloon with an arrow pointing down, the worst part of it all was that the home theatre room doors were open, they were previously locked. Liliana watched as Sam approached the door to peek inside, Liliana felt a shiver down her spine so she paced quickly, standing next to her. Sam moved away from her to grab a flashlight from a table and they were both glad that it was working.

"Where the hell are you guys?" Sam asked softly with alarm in her voice. Liliana flinched when the flashlight was pointed at her face. Sam moved closer to Liliana again and peeked inside the room, "Whoa, this is weird… stay close Lily."

"You too…"

They walked inside the theatre room, not noticing that the psycho was right behind them. It was dark inside and Liliana immediately regretted coming inside, she had good memories of this room, the late night movie watching, popcorn fights, cuddling with Josh…

Sam looked scared now, "Hey! Guys come ON! I am DONE with this! I really don't appreciate the silent treatment here!" she yelled while looking around and pointing the flashlight everywhere.

"Sam please, calm down… they're not—"

Both girls pitched a scream as the doors closed with a loud bang, they turned around and Liliana grabbed onto Sam's arms when the blonde lost her balance. They stared at it for a while before noticing that the cinema screen was working. Liliana looked at the projector and couldn't see anyone.

" _Hello Samantha, Liliana."_

The girls looked at the screen until it turned white, they looked around.

" _Looking for me? I don't think you'll have much luck by looking."_

"What the… What the hell…!" Sam sputtered.

"It's him! It's him!" Liliana covered her ears, recognizing the robotic voice.

" _You two are only going to see what I want you to see… And I have quite a lot to show you."_

"What…" Sam looked at the screen, "What is going on…!"

"What is it?" Liliana looked at the screen as well.

" _Open your eyes."_

A video of Sam in the bathtub appeared and they were both disgusted, there was a camera in that bathroom and the psycho watched Sam taking a bath all this time.

"Oh my God!" Sam covered her mouth in shock as she watched herself.

" _She's quite beautiful, isn't? A beautiful bathing bird…"_

"How… why…why did you?"

"… _do you think she has any idea what lies ahead? What about her uh?"_

The video was cut to Josh's room, much for Liliana's demise, it was her, unconscious. The thing that petrified her though was the psycho himself, standing next to her and caressing her cheek gently, Liliana felt like throwing up.

" _Beautiful and innocent Liliana… the perfect Sleeping Beauty… don't you think?"_

"STOP!" Liliana scrambled, letting out a sob.

" _Do you think these were the last happy moments of this creature's life?"_

"Why are you showing this to us…?" Sam wailed, grabbing onto her towel.

" _Why are you two watching?"_

Sam pointed her flashlight at the projection room and looked around in complete fear; Liliana was only trying to calm herself and her breathing down. Liliana jumped startled when Sam suddenly turned around.

"Josh!" she yelled.

" _How does it make you feel?"_

Liliana turned as well but Sam stopped her, hugging her closely and hiding her face on her shoulder. But that didn't stop her from hearing his painful screams from reaching her ears.

"J-Joshua…?" she sobbed in shock and doubt.

Sam screamed as Josh's screams became louder and the sound of a saw cutting something soft was heard, "DON'T LOOK LILY!" she tightened her grip when Liliana started struggling.

" _How does this make you feel?"_

"I want to see! LET ME SEE IT SAM!" Liliana screeched loudly as she struggled violently.

" _Let her see."_

"SHUP UP!" in the moment of rage, Sam was caught off guard when Liliana was able to unwrap herself from the blonde's arms, however as soon as she looked at the screen and saw Josh being cut in half she let out a painful howl.

"NOOOO! JOSHUA!" she bawled in pain.

When they both saw Josh's legs being separated and showing his guts, they both looked away. Liliana dropped her knees on the ground and curved her back lower, letting her forehead rest on the floor, she wasn't breathing; her sob was so long that she was breathing.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Sam cried as she looked around, fresh tears fell from her green eyes as she backed away to the door.

" _I'm going to give you two ten seconds… Nine…"_

"No no nonono… Lily, stand up!" Sam grabbed her friends arm and pulled her up like a ragged doll.

Liliana couldn't feel anything, she was numb. She knew this feeling, it was the same she felt a year ago, only this time – being the second time she felt it – it was far more painful, she just watched the man she loved die. Yeah… loved… she loved him so much and she never told him. She still heard Josh's scared and painful screaming on her mind… he looked so lost. Liliana smiled, yeah… everything turned into shit.

Sam backed the two to a corner while she panicked.

" _Eight."_

" _Seven."_

"PLEASE NO!" Sam begged while sobbing.

The door opened violently, and standing there was him. The fucker that did all this, the bastard that probably killed Joshua.

Liliana glared at him, she backed away with Sam of course, she was still scared but mixed with her frightened feelings was anger, and a lust for revenge. He walked inside casually while holding the same tank with the attached mask.

"Sam… Lily…" he breathed.

"No…no!" Sam placed a protective and trembling arm in front of Liliana.

The psycho tilted his head while staring at the two, "Sa-am? Li-ly?" he sung.

Liliana was surprised when her friend suddenly threw the vase standing on a table nearby, "Shut up!" she yelled before grabbing Liliana's hand and running away with her.

"W-Whoa!" the brunette gasped, thinking how awesome that was.

Sam opened the other door that led outside the theatre, "Shit! Shit shit shit!" she cursed as she the two run as fast as they could. Liliana knew that this would end up badly for her asthma so she was actually glad to have her inhaler… she was still confused about having it though. Why would the psycho give it to her?

Sam opened the other door at the end of the hall and closed it; they were in one of the bedrooms now.

Looking back, the door to escape was open but there was always the choice of hiding. Liliana shook her head; no way she was stopping now. She jumped on the bed and looked back at Sam, "COME ONE!"

Sam still looked down but the psycho opened the door as she did do, she shrieked and climbed over the bed just like Liliana did, the brunette helped her friend come down and they kept running ahead. She followed Sam down in the corridor until the basement's door, not having the time to yell how bad that idea was, the brunette could only close the door behind them as Sam walked down the stairs quickly. Liliana followed her suit, hearing the heavy steps of the psycho's boots just behind her.

They stopped running when Sam tried to decide which where to go, Liliana hasn't come down here in a long time so she was lost as well. When Sam finally decided to keep running, Liliana looked back as she run after her; he was just around the corner. And he was limping.

They came across a big steeled door… with the door handle missing.

"Are you kidding? No HANDLE?!" Sam cried.

"HE'S COMING!" Liliana shouted as he saw him down the hall.

Sam was always a quick thinker; she looked at the wine shelf and didn't hesitate on pulling it down. Liliana backed away as his pacing got faster, she gulped as the shelf finale fell but her eyes widened when the handle rolled just under her feet.

She grabbed it and turned to quickly put it on, Sam's erratic breathing was right on her ear. The sound of the psycho's boots crushing the wooden back of the wine shelf was terrifying. Finally, Liliana twisted the handle and opened the door; she almost fell when Sam pushed her in. The two closed the door quickly; Sam locked it as the psycho's hand trying to reach for the lock.

"Ahh! Get out!" she yelled as she slid closed the peeking hole.

The psycho kept banging on the door and the girls turned around, catching their breaths. He finally stopped banging when they approached the only door to exit the room. Sam tried the handle but it didn't budge, they looked at each other and nodded. Both backed away a little to give some power and then hit the door with their shoulder, the door was so weak that instantly opened, but they bumped so hard that they both lost balance and fell on a dirty floor from a high step.

When they stood up, Liliana looked around dumbfounded, where were they? None of them was in the mood to talk, they both knew that this chase wasn't over; he could be right around the corner. They just walked down a long wall, the moonlight fell over them from the corrupted ceiling, it smelled like moss and old in here and Liliana shivered when the cold wind whooshed through them through the wall's cracks. She looked at Sam and cringed, with only a towel she couldn't imagine how cold she was. Looking at herself, her jacket and scarf were missing… she was only wearing her knitted shirt with her t-shirt under it.

Sam couldn't hold her frantic breathing, she looked back at Liliana and grabbed her hand, the brunette nodded at her, she was alright.

"Oh crap…" Sam looked at two ways of getting out of here. One was continuing and run and the other was hiding in a stuck elevator, "Oh fuck…" she gasped as she dragged Liliana toward the elevator, choosing to hide instead.

The leaped inside quite loudly, and Liliana sat on the far corner of the small elevator and Sam wrapped her arm around her, the two hugged each other but Liliana winced with a forgetful thing.

"Flashlight!" she whispered harshly.

Sam quickly turned it off and when they heavy boots approached the elevator, the two stopped breathing and moving. The heavy robotic breathing could be heard from upwards but none of them really looked up, Sam had her eyes closed and Liliana stared into the bricked wall in front of her emotionlessly. Joshua was dead… he killed him. She couldn't stop thinking about it, the adrenaline rush was helping her mind keep off those thoughts but now that she had the time to stay put the grim thoughts were coming back quickly.

She covered her mouth slowly when a sob was about to escape.

"Here little kitties." The psycho taunted, his vision didn't allow him to see the two hiding right under his feet, "Here pussy, pussy…"

When the psycho started moving quickly and looking around, Liliana took a peek at his back, he seemed distressed.

"Fuck!" he cursed, leaping away thinking that they escaped.

Sam and Liliana hugged each other and let out a victory exhale.

* * *

 **A/N: I know this chapter was short but so was Sam's part in this chapter. I'm already writing the seventh chapter so be ready to get two chapters in a day :D**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 9/10**

 **Funny: 6/10**

 **Brave: 7/10**

 **Romantic: 5/10**

 **Curious: 6/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS:**

 **Ashley: 9/10**

 **Emily: 3/10**

 **Chris: 10/10**

 **Jess: 5/10**

 **Josh: 9/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 4/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**


	13. Violence - 7

**Here it is as promised!**

 **I'm so sorry for promising two chapters in a day, I forgot life made you busy.**

* * *

Sam and Liliana made their through the vents that they spotted on the elevator. When they finally reach a dead end, Sam cautiously looked around to see if anyone was nearby with her flashlight, it was dark outside.

 **SAM – WASHINGTON LODGE BASEMENT**

 **03:05**

Liliana backed away as she watched Sam kick the door open, her towel was dirty from the black dust powder on the sketchy vents. Liliana peeked and winced at Sam's knee, it was all bloody and nasty. Sam kicked, it didn't budge, she kicked again and it was still intact, but after another strong kick the vent door finally fell on the ground, letting a line of dust in the air. Liliana covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve; this was the perfect mix for an asthma attack.

They walked out and stuck close together, they walked inside the area and Liliana scrunched her nose towards a mannequin. A pair of rusty lockers stood next to a working table, where a lamp was turned on. Basically, they were in an unknown part of the lodge's basement, empty shelves surrounded them as they walked even further.

Sam looked behind her to a pin board with the lodge's plants, however, she moved the plant's paper up and the two saw the other pinned A4 paper, it showed specific drawings of a headless body chained against a board with a hole on where the head was supposed to exist, but the strangest thing was the other drawing, that showed a dark figure standing behind the board and on top of a box, the figure's head fitted the hole and in the end, it looked like he himself was chained but… he wasn't… it was a trick.

"This is… this can't be right…" Sam said doubtfully.

"But… no way…" Liliana grumbled.

"Oh my God."

They moved to the working table with the lamp and Sam opened one of the drawers, there was a file inside, she took it and opened it on the table.

 **JOSHUA WASHINGTON**

 **CLUE FOUND: PSYCHIATRIC REPORT**

 **FINAL PSYCHIATRIC  
EVALUATION**

 **05/21/2014**

 **DR. A. HILL**

 **CONFIDENTIAL**

"Wha—" Sam started.

"That's Joshua's…" Liliana swallowed dryly.

 **PSYSICIAN HISTORY**

 **06/11/2006  
Jeremy Harris, MD  
Whale Point Surgery  
Referred on 04/02/2007 after  
incident at school**

 **04/26/2007  
Oliver Purkiss, MD, MPH  
Pastoral Wellbeing Center  
Referred on 10/19/2009 after  
incident at school**

 **10/23/2009  
Roisi Williams, MD  
Santa Buena Medical Center  
Referred on 12/09/2009 after  
disagreement over treatment**

 **01/03/2010  
Sarah North, MD, PhD  
Cranleigh Hospital  
Referred on 11/29/2013 after  
patient's response to drugs tapered badly**

 **12/19/2013 – Present  
Alan Hill, MD, MPH  
South-Western Psychiatry  
Referred on 03/14/2014 due to potential suicide risk**

Liliana stared at the last addition perplexed… Josh never… told her…

The next page was about the prescribed antidepressants that he was taking. From 2006 to 2010 he took Fluoxetine which he stopped taking because of the side effects, such as headaches and nausea, were becoming too severe. Then from 2010 to 2013 he was taking Duloxetine, Josh claimed that the drug was no longer having effect and that his mood was badly worsened, Liliana didn't recall seeing Josh angry around her… he never showed it.

 **Fluoxetine (06/18/2006 - 01/24/2010)**

 **Patient reported that side-effects (headaches, nausea) were becoming too severe, and wanted to change drug.**

 **Duloxetine (02/13/2010 - 11/01/2013)**

 **Patient claimed that the drug was no longer having any effect. Reported that his mood had badly worsened.**

 **Amitriptyline (11/29/2013 - 04/05/2014)**

 **Patient began self-medicating, taking stronger doses.**

 **Phenelzine (04/15/2014 - present)**

 **30mg dose. Twice daily, increasing to three times daily after 2 weeks.**

 **If the patient reports any of the following symptoms, please contact a physician IMMEDIATELY.**

 **Side effects: hypotension, blurred vision, dizziness, insomnia, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle tremors, liver damage (hepatitis),**

 **On withdrawal: nausea, insomnia, nightmares, agitation, hallucinations, paranoia, aggressiveness, slurred speech, ataxia, catatonia, shocks.**

This… she remembered when Josh called her in the middle of the night crying, saying that he had a terrible nightmare and he was afraid to go back to sleep, she would go over his house and calm him down. So… was Josh having withdrawals?

Liliana couldn't read more; she backed away from Sam and started thinking about the whole situation.

She just saw Josh being sawed in half but those plants that she saw back there indicated that something else happened, and then there's this Psychiatric Report, Liliana didn't even know about his depression. And this has been happening since he was eleven years old. She hugged herself and mourned Josh's death again, he died scared and hurt, he was murdered and he probably didn't even like his life. Liliana wished he would trust her enough to tell her this… but now she guessed that her feelings were one-sided, he didn't trust her as much as she trusted him.

"You alright?" Sam suddenly asked as she walked away from the table.

Liliana nodded quietly.

Sam looked at her worriedly, but she passed by her and reached for something on the shelf behind the brunette.

It was… Josh's phone?

Sam stared at the screen for a moment, occasionally sliding down as if she was reading a long text.

 **CLUE FOUND: JOSH'S CELLPHONE**

"What was that about?" Sam mumbled.

"What?"

"It was text messages between Josh and some Dr. Hill, it talked about a plan…" Sam dismissed it quickly, "Let's just keep going."

Liliana nodded and walked along with Sam ahead, to an area more lightened by the moon, she could imagine how beautiful it looked on a shitty night like this. She stayed in the middle of the room as she watched Sam wonder around, the blonde walked to the further left of the room and moved some boxes to look at something in the wall, when Liliana approached her she felt her stomach drop. A small pin board filled with Hannah and Beth's wanted posts, newspaper stories and even medals that they won were pinned all over.

 **CLUE FOUND: REMEMBRACE BOARD**

"Ugh… creep city," Sam muttered disgusted.

Liliana didn't trust herself to commentate on the matter; she just nodded with a harsh glare towards it.

They walked away from it and exited the area through an open door, Liliana always stalked behind Sam because she was the one carrying the flashlight, suddenly her eyes widened in realization, she patted her right pocket and relief filled her fully when she felt her phone's bump in there. The patted the other pocket and saw the inhaler and surprisingly, she didn't need it right now, her breathing was more stable than ever.

They walked down a small hall and entered through another open door, after descending a few steps Sam continued walking ahead to her left, Liliana just rested against the wall behind the blonde girl and closed her eyes in a reflective way.

She heard the sound of a heavy button being clicked.

" _Hello and thank you all for joining me."_

She panicked again when she heard his deep and robotic voice, standing next to Sam in a flash her eyes flickered over the voice recorder.

" _Tonight we're going to conduct a little experiment…"_ he continued.

There was another pause.

" _Hello… Hello, children… No…"_ Liliana froze in recognition to the voice, _"that's not right…"_ Josh. It was him, he was talking now… his voice sounded to… lost and emotionless. He cleared his throat, _"Greetings pilgrims…"_

"Ho-lee shit." Sam said before clicking the button and stopping the recording.

 **CLUE FOUND: VOICE RECORDING**

"W-Why was Joshua recording that? He sounded like…"

"He sounded like nothing Lily, let's just try to find more clues for this fucked up situation and not presume anything right now!" Sam winced when she saw Liliana flinch, she regretted using a harsh tone on her friend, "Look, Lils, Josh is dead. I know it hurts but right now we need to find everyone and make sure they're all right… I know how much he meant to you and trust me, you meant a lot to him too."

Liliana scoffed, "Yeah right, he kept all those secrets of him seeing psychiatrists and taking all those antidepressants from me! I could've helped…" her voice cracked, "I c-could have done something…" she turned away from Sam and cleaned the tears that were threatening to slide down her cold and flushed cheeks, "But it doesn't matter now does it? He's dead. And you're right. I'm still worried about Chris and Ash."

"Josh would have wanted you to stay strong." Sam said softly.

"I know…"

They walked back up another set of stairs, and after walking almost in circles in another hall they entered inside a room through a pair of woodened door with round windows. When they walked inside, the first thing Liliana noticed was a tripod camera pointing at a dummy. The girls approached it and Sam gasped startled.

"Jesus…"

 **CLUE FOUND: DUMMY IN SAM'S CLOTHES**

"Is that your clothes?" Liliana covered her mouth.

"Yes! They disappeared…"

Liliana looked back at the tripod and leaned over the camera, it was currently recording.

 **CLUE FOUND: VIDEO CAMERA**

"Hmm…" Sam breathed.

"Is he filming all this?" Liliana spluttered half-angry.

"Let's just… go…" Sam told her carefully.

Liliana bit inside her cheek and nodded, glancing at the video camera again before following Sam. Just as they were in front of the other door, something grab a hold of Sam's legs, making Liliana jump like a scarred cat and Sam herself yelp in surprise. When they looked down however, relief and happiness filled the girls' faces.

They both kneeled down in front of a small gated hole on the wall; Mike was there, looking up at the girls with slight panic.

"Mike! What are you doing down there! There's a k—" Sam paused and her expression fell into a sad and scared one, "Oh Mike, thank God you found us…"

"Yeah…" Liliana admitted, almost tearing up again.

"It's okay, you two okay?" he whispered gently.

"Where's—where's Jessica?" Sam asked concernedly, "She's not, she's not with you?"

Liliana looked around Mike to try and spot her.

Mike gave the girls a pained expression, "Jessica is dead." He confessed grimly.

"What!?" Sam exclaimed harshly.

"No way! She can't be!" Liliana uttered in shock.

Jessica was dead, Josh was dead… who else could be dead too?

"He killed her," he looked between Sam and Liliana, almost crying, "There's some maniac on the mountain who is trying to kill us. All of us. And I swear to God, when everyone is safe and accounted for I am gonna hunt that fucker down and rip his nuts, off one at a goddamn time." Mike continued with a cracked and furious voice. He was trembling, Liliana wanted to hug him so badly.

"I don't wanna die…" Liliana let out unconsciously. She was so scared but her voice came out soulless.

"You won't, I won't let anything happen to you, or Sam." Mike assured, giving her a comforting expression.

Sam shook her head, "Whoa. Listen, this guy who you're talking about… he attacked Lily and I. He showed us this videos too, and one of them showed Josh being killed… just… ripped apart by this huge fucking sawblade," Sam explained angrily.

Mike sure was shocked and even more perplexed; "Jesus Christ…" he looked over at Liliana and saw her sad eyes staring at the floor.

Sam glance at Liliana before continuing, "And Mike… I think… somehow Josh is involved in all of this—"

"What?!" Liliana snapped at her.

"Yeah… what? How?" Mike asked.

"I'm really not sure, but… there was a message from his doctor, and… it mentioned a "plan" that was like, a "bad idea", and now he's dead!" Sam explained further more.

Liliana looked at her with a betrayed expression, why didn't she share this information?

"What the fuck is going on around here?" Mike exhaled incredulously, he approached the hole again, his voice and expression now more serious, "There's a door here, it won't open. Can you unlock it from your side?" he asked Sam, Liliana just looked like she was a kicked puppy.

Sam stood up and turned the door right next to her, only now Liliana noticed her pink backpack hanging in the handle – which was highly suspicious. Eventually the brunette stood as well and followed Sam when the door was open. They could only turn left since there was a wall of concrete to their right and they did spot a door on Mike's side, he was locked with a board. Sam took the board off and bursted inside the room, Mike was standing right in front of them with a smile.

"Hey…" he greeted them both.

Liliana hugged him, surprising Sam and Mike at the same time, but nevertheless, his brotherly instincts kicked in and he hugged her back as well.

"I'm so glad you're okay…" she whispered.

Even though he was a jerk, Mike was her friend, they weren't on good terms now but she would never wish him death. When she broke the hug, the two smiled at each other as Liliana backed away to stand next to Sam again. The blonde send him a smile.

"Jeez you look like hell…" she eyed him critically.

Mike was indeed covered with dust and his clothes were all torn apart, wherever he went, it wasn't a good place.

"Nice to see you too," he said sarcastically as Sam passed by him to the back of the room.

Mike and Liliana watched as Sam placed her bag on the floor and her flashlight somewhere safe.

"What are you doing?" Mike asked confusedly.

Liliana rolled her eyes and Sam gave him a patronizing look, "Well actually the towel didn't turn out to be the best outfit for fighting off killer maniacs you know?" He continued staring at her as she leaned down to grab the clothes from the bag, "Do you mind, Mike?" she asked rhetorically as she made a circle with her hand for him to turn around.

"Oh. Right, my bad." Mike slowly apologized while turning around.

Out of politeness, Liliana did the same.

As Sam got dressed, the brunette closed her eyes and heard the sounds around her. The snow storm outside, the zipper from Sam's jacket, Mike's breathing… then she started feeling it, her body was ill. Now that she was quiet she could feel everything, the tightness on her chest, her emerging wheezing and her growing headache: she was on the edge of having a fit of an asthma attack. It could be from anything, running, the dust and the wet wood… hell it could even be because she was stressed or traumatized.

She tried to confide her 'kittens', that's what João used to call her wheezing, but doing it so could make her cough.

"Okay. Done!" Sam announced, "Let's put this thing to bed…" she added.

"Ditto," Liliana nodded.

"Amen to that." Mike agreed.

" _Please!"_

" _I can't! I can't decide!"_

"What was that?" Sam asked quickly.

"You heard it too right?" Liliana snapped her head between Sam and the door.

"Is that… crying?" Mike noticed.

The three left the room and walked to the door in front of them, the voices were coming from there. The door was a bit stuck so the three leaned their shoulders towards it and started pushing it with all their strength, once was enough. It was dark but Liliana could see figures in the shadows, when a light suddenly fell on the figures her eyes widened when she saw Chris and Ashley facing each other while sitting on chairs, there was a table between the two.

"No! No no no! Get away!" Ashley cried in panic.

Liliana looked at the psycho approaching the two and was startled when Chris started shooting him with a gun, where the hell did the gun came from? Instead of falling dead with many shot wound on his chest, the psycho simply looked down and then at Chris.

"Oh Chris… Oh Chris, Chris, Chris…" the psycho shook his head as he rounded around Ashley.

"What the fuck?!" Chris yelled confused, looking at the gun.

"Oh you've heard of blanks before. I mean really?" the psycho moved his hands towards his mask and with a simple gesture he broke Liliana's heart when he revealed his identity.

"J-Joshua…" she mumbled petrified in that spot.

"…Josh?" Chris repeated incredibly astonished.

Josh only laughed loudly.

"Josh!" Sam screamed angrily.

He kept laughing with a huge grin on his face, he passed by Mike and Liliana stared at the floor with her eyes widened.

"Josh…" Mike tried.

Sam hurried and started untying a very frightened Ashley, while Mike helped Chris, Liliana just continued standing like a statue, not being able to look at Josh at the moment.

Josh wasn't stopping, he let out a happy exhale, "Oh, oh very good!" he chirped, "Every one of you! Got my name!" he chuckled while turning at them as if that was the funniest thing ever, "And after all you've been through! Good, good-good-good. I mean how does that feel? Right? How does it feel? Do you enjoy feeling terrorized? Humiliated? I mean, panicked?" his smile dropped and suddenly he started speaking with a soft anger in his words, "All those emotions that my sisters got to feel once one year ago? Only-Only guess what?" he paused as he looked at his friends and started raising his voice, "They didn't get to laugh it off! No! Nope! No no no! They're gone!" he opened his arms and smiled widely again.

"I don't know if you noticed this, Josh, but none of us are laughing." Mike deadpanned with a glare towards him.

Sam looked at him too, filled with disappointment.

"Oh come, come, come-come-come. Why the long faces? Come on!" he scoffed, "It's good to get the heart racing every now and then, right? And race they did, I mean, every single one of you just pitter-pat-pitter-pat! I hope you appreciated my little phantasmagorical spectacle! I mean, no details were too small! No opportunity missed! It was such," he smiled with pride in his voice, "a delight to play the puppet master, to…to all of your Pavlovian panic!" he breathed a chuckle his eyes were gleaming, "And all that gore? I mean, _gore,_ there was gore galore! Fake bodies… I mean… God, that shit was expensive! And no retakes! Nope, nope, only double takes! Oh you should've seen your faces. Hook line and sinker. For every little stinker!" he raised his arms up and boomed the last quote happily.

Liliana finally moved, she walked and stood between Mike and Sam, right in front of Josh's vision, he looked at her crestfallen expression and his smile dropped instantly. Of course that she didn't notice it, she couldn't look at him still.

"Josh…" Sam started slowly, "Your fingerprints were all over this. It was obviously you," Sam glanced at Liliana.

"Oh really?" Josh asked her with a challenging voice, "Really really really?"

"You're crying out for help Josh… Come on, you wanted to get caught, didn't you?" she tried again.

"Oh sure. I'm totally just crying out for help. 'Help me! Oh help me! Help, help!'" his pretentious voice crying made Liliana's stomach twist, "Come on!" he paused to look at the group, "It was just for fun! I mean so you got a little of egg on your face, right? Nobody got hurt—"

"What are you talking about you ass hat?" Mike interrupted him crossed, "Jessica IS FUCKING DEAD!"

For the first time since he revealed himself, Josh looked genuinely surprised, "What?"

"Did you hear me?" Mike's voice was starting to tense up and Liliana knew that he was up for violence, "Jessica is dead," he started walking towards Josh, "and YOU ARE GONNA FUCKING PAY YOU DICK!" Mike yelled furiously as he hit Josh across his cheek with the side of the gun he was carrying.

Josh let out a cry before falling on the floor.

"No!" Liliana wailed.

Mike looked apologetic towards her, but he was still angry, "Sorry Lils but that crazy asshole deserved it."

She shook her head and walked at him, "I don-don't believe Josh killed her… he couldn't…" she looked down at him with a pained expression, "He couldn't… right?" she whispered her last words unsure.

Everyone gave her a pitiful expression.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh Josh… what have you done my boy? QUQ**

 **Here you have it… strangely another short chapter but I can't help it, it's how it's supposed to go.**

 **You worried about Emily and Matt? What about Jess? Are they alive? :D**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS: (at the end of this chapter)**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 9/10**

 **Funny: 5/10**

 **Brave: 7/10**

 **Romantic: 5/10**

 **Curious: 8/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS: (at the end of this chapter)**

 **Ashley: 9/10**

 **Emily: 3/10**

 **Chris: 10/10**

 **Jess: 5/10**

 **Josh: 6/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 6/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**


	14. The Stranger

**Thank you for the 82 reviews, 91 favorites, 164 followers and MORE THAN 11,770+ REVIEWS. HOLY JESUS HOT SAUCE AND CHRISTMAS CAKE! I swear I get happy with the smallest of things. :'D**

* * *

"So what do we do now?" Chris asked as everyone was making their way back to the living room.

Josh was slowly starting to regain consciousness again, he was being dragged by Mike at gun point, and Liliana was on the edge of taking it away before something stupid happens.

"We take this crazy asshole to the shed," Mike responded, nodding at Chris, "The girls will stay here, then we'll call the police."

 **LILIANA – WASHINGTON LODGE**

 **04:15**

"Not right…" Josh mumbled with slurred words.

"Shut the fuck up!" Mike hissed, pushing him to the back door where the path for the shed led.

Chris winced at Mike's harsh voice. While Ashley simply glared at Josh before sitting down on the couch and hugging herself, Sam was also too disappointed in her friend but she at least was able to give an apathetic glance at him. It was Liliana who couldn't look, she was still trying to work out with the gears of her brain in how did this happen, she felt extremely betrayed but at the same she wanted to calm Josh down and tell him that he'd be okay, that she believed that he didn't killed Jessica.

God knows where Matt and Emily are.

"Lillian…"

She held her breath when his voice called from her back.

"Lils please… please-please-please, look at me, PLEASE!" he begged loudly.

"Shut up man…" Chris ordered softly. He knew that Liliana was hurting pretty bad right now; he didn't want Josh to make things worse.

Josh ignored him; he kept struggling in Mike's buffed arms, "You have to believe me Lillian, PLEASE! I didn't kill Jessica and I would never harm you or any of them" he sobbed, "I am _so fucking sorry!"_

Liliana finally slowly turned around and looked at him in his wide and confused eyes, she knew he wasn't mentally okay… he needed some peace right now, "Joshua I…"

"Lils you don't have to say shit to this nuthole!" Mike cut.

"Mike shut up, let her speak." Sam interjected.

Josh gave his blonde friend an appreciative look.

"Joshua… what you did was terrible, psychotic and dangerous. I mean… if I had forgotten about my inhaler I could've been dead… but if Mike is saying that Jessica is dead I might as well believe him."

Josh's expression broke into a hurtful one.

"But…" she sighed, "I believe that you didn't kill her. I don't think you could ever kill someone."

He inhaled and grinned, "Yes. Yes-yes-yes-yes! G-Good! That's good! She believes, she does! Good!" he starting chuckling to himself and Mike suddenly had enough.

"Alright, let's go."

"NO WAIT! LILLIAN, DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!" Josh yelled, struggling again as he was dragged by Mike, Chris followed them suit.

Liliana stared at the floor and shook her head, "I'm sorry Joshua…" she run into Sam and the blonde immediately hugged her.

"NO! LILIANA PLEASE! I WOULD NEVER HURT ANY OF YOU! I DID THIS FOR US! I DID THIS FOR THEM! I TRUST YOU! I TRUST YOU!" Josh's pleading was loud and desperate but he was gone, the lodge was now quiet and only the strong wind and the pipes could be heard.

Liliana finally cried, Sam sat her down with her and Ashley placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I can't believe it was Josh all along…" Sam mumbled.

"I… I think I kinda did…know…" Liliana sobbed softly, cleaning some of her tears.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"Sam, all those clues back in the basement… like you said, it had Josh all over. I just think that I didn't want to believe in it…" Liliana admitted sadly.

"Shit… you're right. Even I didn't see it, only when he took that fucking mask." Sam exasperated.

"You guys were in the basement?" Ashley asked, approaching Liliana.

Sam nodded, "Josh chased us but we were able to escape. It was crazy down there… his files, phone, voice recording… I think he has been planning this for months."

"… fuck!" Ashley gasped incredulously.

They were quiet for a while.

"What was he doing to you two?" Liliana asked, looking at Ashley.

"Down there? He was making Chris choose again…" she smiled a little, "I can't believe Chris chose to save me already twice."

Liliana chuckled weakly, "Of course he did, he adores you."

It was still weird that he had chosen Ashley instead of his best friend since third grade and Liliana knew that Josh, even though it was already planned, would resent or perhaps at least be hurt about it.

 _Or maybe not… I don't even know if I know Joshua anymore. Since Hannie and Beth died, he tried to be the same but he wasn't. He never was the same._ She thought grimly.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Chris was back. No Mike and no Josh. Liliana asked him what happened and it was like he was still dumbfounded, he told the girls that Josh was behaving like he had never seen him before. He was talking to himself, saying things that didn't make any sense and that he kept repeating Liliana's name, to the point where Mike almost hit him again.

While he was explaining though, loud bangs from the main entrance door.

"Let me in1 Let me IN!" a voice cried outside.

"Is that—" Ashley started.

"It's Em!" Sam told Chris.

"Let her in! Quick!" He quickly ran to the door with the others following him as well. As soon the door was open Emily barged in, falling on the floor. While Ashley and Sam tried to grab her, she simply backed away from the door while having this scarred expression.

"Shut the door! Oh my God—shut the door!" she yelled.

Liliana quickly helped Chris shut the door with a kick.

Finally she was up and the girls stared at her worriedly. Em's forehead was covered with blood and her clothes covered in snow, she looked like she had been through hell.

"E-Em are you alright?" Chris asked worriedly. They all followed her back to the living room.

"I didn't think that I'd make it –" she cried, she was definitely freaking out.

"Emily relax!" Liliana said.

Sam helped her reach the couch.

"You were screaming bloody murder." Chris remarked.

"Are you okay?" Sam added, looking at her worriedly.

"You look totally wiped—" Ashley noted, helping Sam by grabbing the arm of the unstable Emily.

Liliana immediately went to the kitchen to grab her a glass of water.

"There was something—" Emily tried to explain but her voice kept cracking.

"Where's Matt?" Ashley cut her.

They were all speaking at the same time and too fast, panic was obvious in the room.

"Come sit down, sit down—" Sam ordered her gently.

Emily kept exhaling erratically, "Something's out there—"

Liliana came back with the water.

"Did you guys split up?" Ashley asked, trying to help Emily to speak up more clearly.

 **CHRIS – WASHINGTON LODGE**

 **04:23**

"A monster—It's a monster!" Emily cried when she finally sat down. Ashley kneeled in front of her, patting her knee while Sam place a hand on her back comforting.

"Wait! What are you talking about?" Chris asked calmly.

"I said, there is something out there!" she finally said.

"Like what?!" Ashley asked, panic rising inside her again with the new information.

"Ash, relax… It was Josh, it was all Josh…" Sam reassured the two.

"No, no no no listen to me!" Emily begged, Liliana had never seen her so broken and scared, she was always confident.

"We got him tied up, he can't hurt you." Sam explained.

Liliana frowned at her choice of words.

"NO it was AFTER ME. And it wasn't human!" Emily tried again.

"Wait really?" Liliana cut, "Did you really see it?"

"YES!" Emily told her frantically.

"Hold on… Wait Em – where's Matt? Is he okay?" Chris asked concernedly.

Emily suddenly looked at her lap crestfallen, "Matt—oh God. We couldn't use the cable car so we climbed the tower and then it fell and we were down in the mind, like way down, down in this terrifying freaking mine shaft…" she explained quickly.

"Hold on hold on-" Chris paused her to let her catch her breath.

"And then, it was Matt and me down there and…" she finally sighed and looked down sadly, "Oh God I think Matt might be dead."

"Wait what?" Chris quickly said.

"How?" Liliana exhaled, thinking that now she needed the water more than Emily. She couldn't believe it, Jessica and Matthew were dead.

"Emily what happened?" Ashley asked.

"Here," Liliana offered the glass of water to her somehow friend, "Calm down and drink this."

Emily stared at the glass with a shocked expression, but she accepted it and nodded at the brunette whatsoever, taking a sip, she was able to continue, "I-I was walking down there, in the mines, and it was dark and I found this pile and there was Beth's head."

"What the fuck?!" Liliana shrieked, finally standing up and letting out an English curse.

"Wait, what?!" Chris shared the same feelings.

"Beth's head. I found it!" she explained, looked between Ashley and Sam. Liliana was only on the verge of finally cracking.

"Oh my God!" Ashley felt like she had enough, she sat next to Emily and hugged her legs with a broken expression.

"What the fuck?" Chris spat, looking quickly between Emily and Liliana.

"Are you serious?!" Sam whispered harshly.

"YES I'm serious!" Emily snapped, she calmed down when she took another sip from the water, "I think they fell down there."

"Oh… Jesus Christ." Chris croaked in realization.

Emily hugged herself, "But the worst part is I don't think Hannah died, like, from the fall, not right away…"

"Wait-What? What do you mean?!" Ashley asked confusedly.

"I don't know… I feel like she as down there… like, starving to death… for weeks," Emily whined, remembering whatever she saw down there, "when we were all up looking for her… we had no idea!"

"Jesus, that's… horrible…" Chris sighed.

"No shit Sherlock!" Liliana snapped at him, "First Joshua! Now there's Beth's head and we just find out that we had the shot of finding Hannie! HANNIE WAS ALIVE DOWN THERE AND SHE WAS PROBABLY SCARED!"

"Lils calm down…" Chris walked up to her and rested his hands on her shoulders, "Take a deep breath. I know, this is a shitty night for everyone. But you need to calm down and let Emily talk. We need to know more about the whole situation."

He sent calm waves all over her body, "S-Sorry I…" she was embarrassed.

"It's okay honey, just take deep breaths." Sam said, reminding the brunette of her asthma.

Liliana nodded and looked at Emily, the Asian smiled sadly and look ahead of her again, her face was thoughtful as if she was trying to remember every detail, "Listen. In… in the tower there was a radio and I –" Liliana heard the door where Josh disappeared into being open and closed, "I got through to someone – but that was right when the tower collapsed!" as she talked, Mike waltzed inside running quickly, he halted when he heard Emily's voice and looked at her in shock.

"Em!" he panted, the two quickly embraced tightly in each other's arms, "You made it!"

"Oh god, Mike-" Em looked up at his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, barely!" Chris interjected.

They broke the hug and Mike glanced over at Chris, "What about Matt?"

"We're trying to figure that out…" Ashley replied.

He looked between Chris and Ashley.

"And there was this "monster" that was chasing her…" Chris added.

Mike dismissed him and smiled at Emily, "She's all messed up, guys. Emily?" he stared at her eyes, "Hey, Em?"

The loud banging on one of the window doors made everyone look at the same time to their left.

"Whoa." Chris mumbled.

"Oh… what now?" Liliana trembled.

"Who the fuck can that be?" Mike whispered at Chris.

"Joshua?" Liliana suggested.

"Jess?"

Mike looked at Chris with a pained expression, "It's not Jess."

"Sorry man… but who is it?" Chris apologized.

Mike tensed his muscles and shook his head, "I don't know… We should check it out." He looked at Emily.

At the point, all the girls were standing behind the boys. Ashley grabbed Liliana's arm tightly.

"I got your back," Chris shrugged.

"Good." Mike replied shortly.

"I'm coming as well," Liliana nodded, already following the boys. She shook Ashley's arm gently and glared when Mike sent her a look, "Mike I swear to God, we've both been through shit so don't test me."

He pursed his lips and nodded, "Stay behind me." He cocked his gun from the jacket and walked ahead. Chris and Liliana shared a look before following him.

When they arrived to the door, a large shadow could be seen outside, too large to be Josh or Jess. Mike moved to the front of the door with the gun aimed at the shadow outside.

"Okay. I'm gonna open the door. You ready?" he suggested nervously, "You ready?"

"Uh huh," Mike nodded. "You read Lils?"

"Just do it." She coughed, surprising herself.

Instead of opening the door, Chris didn't move, which annoyed both Mike and Liliana.

"Just do it already, whoever it is has probably gone by now." Mike joked humorlessly, startling Chris.

"If you're nervous I can do it," Liliana suggested sympathetically.

"No! I'll do it." Chris quickly ensured, "Unless-Unless you want me to take the gun."

"No, no, no. I think that's less good. You do the door. I got the gun."

"Can you guys just-"

"Sorry, sorry," Chris approached the door and as soon as he turned the handle and a clique was heard, the person outside kicked the doo violently, sending Chris falling towards Liliana, the two fell on the floor with a nasty thud, "Shit! Shit!"

"Ow!" Liliana winced.

"Ah! Ho-hold on there!" Mike warned weakly, Hold on there, mister."

Liliana looked up to see a man dressed with heavy overalls. The first thing she noticed was a scar over his right blue eye. He looked serious and to be in his early-50's with his spiky graying hair growing from his beanie.

"Freeze-" Mike thought he had everything under control but then the man smirked and grabbed the gun from his hand, "Ahh! What the—" Mike's arm followed the gun until the floor and he almost fell.

Chris helped Liliana stand up.

But he quickly backed away from him when he knew he was losing, "Alright, alright, just… take it easy grandpa."

The 'grandpa' closed the door and glared at the three, "Ok. Everybody just calm down." His voice was raspy, he started walking, making them back away. "Now just move over there. Go on, move! Let me say what I came to say."

Chris placed Liliana protectively behind his back and started heading towards where the girls were, they almost tripped on their own feet. When the group was back together, Liliana stood between Mike and Sam, she looked curiously at this man and his flamethrower.

"I'm here to tell you what you're up against being back on this mountain," the stranger continued, moving to stand in front of the fireplace, "You should never have returned. I don't know why you did after what happened last year." He placed his sack on the floor.

"You mean with Hannah and Beth?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, how could you know without being involved." Chris remarked.

"Or responsible?" Sam added.

"You hold onto your horses. I don't take kindly to you kids coming up here to my mountain—"

"Your mountain?" Mike interrupted smugly, "Uhm, I'm sure the Washingtons would be very surprised to hear that."

"Mike, please!" Liliana stopped him.

The stranger chuckled dryly, "Well this mountain don't belong to me, it's true. But it don't belong to the Washingtons. This mountain belongs to the Wendigo."

Chris snorted, "Who?"

"What's he talking about?" Sam whispered.

"What the hell's a Wendigo?" Mike asked still with a smug smile, he thought this was funny.

"Let's hear him out." Liliana interjected.

"Not like we have a choice." Mike counteracted.

"Now I'm only going to tell you this once. It doesn't matter to me if you believe it or not. I got reasons I want to… Get it off my chest…" the stranger's voice sounded distant.

"See? I told you!" Mike interrupted him, looking at his friends for approval, "He's guilty as shit!" he turned back to the stranger and pointed at him in accusation, "Guilty of something!"

"Shh. Shut up Mike!" Sam whispered harshly at his rudeness.

The stranger turned his back to them and stared at the fireplace, "There is a curse. That dwells in these mountains." He glanced back at the group to show how serious his face was, "Should any man or woman resort to cannibalism in these woods the spirit of the Wendigo shall be unleashed."

"Oh crap." Mike suddenly muttered, he seemed to be having a flashback that supported what the stranger just said. Mike seemed to be a believer now.

"You're going to need to find somewhere safe." The stranger continued.

"The basement might be okay…" Sam suggested, looking hopefully at Emily and Ashley. Liliana simply grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"Okay. Get down there, now. All of you. And wait." The stranger ordered.

"What? Why? For how long?" Sam asked.

Emily frowned as she sat straighter, "Until dawn." She answered.

There was a pause between everyone before Mike suddenly realized something, "Guys… I ran off and left Josh when I heard screaming." His expression showed slight panic.

Everyone gaped at him.

"Where did you leave him?" the stranger asked cautiously.

"In the shed…"

"Ah… Your friend will already be dead." He declared casually.

"No…" Chris stood up.

"No way!" Liliana did the same, looking between Mike and the stranger at the same time, "No!"

"No he can't be… No." Chris continued.

"How could you leave him?" Liliana snapped at Mike.

"We were just with him!" Chris explained.

The stranger shook his head negatively, "A lot can happen quickly on this mountain."

"No, I'm gonna go get him." Chris stated.

"You can't go out there, Chris!" Ashley cried, fearing for his life.

"I'm supposed to be his best friend and-and I let him down!" Chris raised his voice.

"No… he let _you_ down, Chris – he let all of us down." Ashley reasoned.

"I don't care. I'm going to get him." Chris wasn't going to change his mind.

"And I'm going as well," Liliana said.

"Then I'll go with you." The stranger nodded, already gripping on his flamethrower.

"No wait, Lils you're not going anywhere." Mike said.

"Y-Yeah Lily, sit this one out," he approached Lily, "Ashley needs you…" he whispered, this was only between him and her.

Liliana looked at the green eyes girl and saw her fearful expression. She sighed, "Fine… but… be careful Chris."

Chris nodded and turned to the stranger again, "I-I don't need your help."

"Going alone is suicide." The stranger explained indifferently.

There was a pause and then Chris finally gave him.

"Fine…"

"The rest of you –" the stranger approached the group, "get down to the basement. Be safe. And don't go outside again until we're back." He ordered again, he turned to Chris and sent him a grim look, "You don't seem to understand the magnitude of the situation."

"Well I'm going to get Josh, aren't I?" Chris replied coolly.

Liliana smiled proudly at him.

"No I'm going to get Josh. You're going to help me. Do you understand?" the stranger retorted.

"…Uh… Yeah… I think so…" Chris lost his cool by the intimidation.

"You need to follow me." He pointed at Chris seriously, "And do everything I tell you."

The two walked away and Liliana looked at Ashley, who was debating with her own self while staring at where Chris disappeared. Liliana nudged her and smiled.

"Go…"

Ashley's broken expression lit up a little, she finally stood up and walked quickly to catch up with Chris.

"Finally…" Sam muttered.

* * *

 **A/n: God… this was hard to write since I hurt my back yesterday. I had no comfortable position to write this but I did, I hope you liked it!**

 **Sorry for the grammatical mistakes!**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 9/10**

 **Funny: 5/10**

 **Brave: 7/10**

 **Romantic: 5/10**

 **Curious: 9/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS:**

 **Ashley: 9/10**

 **Emily: 4/10**

 **Chris: 10/10**

 **Jess: 5/10**

 **Josh: 6/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 7/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**


	15. Bite

**Thank you for the 94 reviews, 101 favorites (omg), 174 follows and 14,600+ VIEWS! Yay! And also, my story in compiled in a community? U wot m8? That never happened to me, exciting! :v**

 **I this story gets 100 reviews, I might write something special. *winks and flies into a volcano***

 **Side note: Thank you to everyone who was patient about this chapter, I promise that after this one I'll keep updating like I used to, my damn disease knocked me out of my zone for a moment. I deleted that author note, for those who don't know I was recently hospitalized because of the worst asthma attack I ever had since I was six, I was still recovering but now, with the medication, I feel much better ^^ Thanks for the get well soon reviews and the support! With no further due, here's the fifteenth chapter!**

* * *

They all moved down into the hold hotel, inside a secured area that resembled a cage, at least they were safe there. Ashley however, stayed upstairs, she refused to come down without making sure Chris would come back and Mike refused to leave her alone with a monster on the loose. Everyone else was tensed and worried about their friends.

Liliana prayed that Ashley, Mike, Chris, Josh and even that stranger would walk inside at any time. She didn't want to see any more deaths.

On the cue, hurried steps were heard approaching them, Chris shoved the door open, entering first while leaping and leaning against a shelve, Mike followed next and closed the door immediately when Ashley was inside.

"Oh my God! Guy! Thank god!" Emily breathed in relief.

 **MIKE – OLD HOTEL**

 **04:47**

"What took you so long?!" Sam asked.

"Chris, are you alright?" Liliana came in aid to his side as she noticed his leaping.

"It's not so good up there right now-" he explained shortly, still trying to shake off a certain feeling.

"Understatement of the night," Mike commented as he kept staring back to make sure nothing followed them.

"Chris… where's the flame thrower guy?" Sam inquired.

"Ah…yeah…he…uh…" Chris was trying to put in softly.

"He didn't make it…?!" Ashley concluded.

"Oh NO!" Emily whined, knowing that without him they were good as dead.

"I hope he finally finds peace…" Liliana mumbled.

"What happened?" Sam asked urgently.

"The thing it… it tore him apart…" he explained with a crack on his voice. Liliana patted him on the back comfortingly, "Right in front of me."

"Oh god…" Sam whispered in shock. She looked down thoughtfully and for a moment, no one knew what to do.

"Alright. These are all the doors?" Mike asked as he moved to the other area behind.

"Yeah," Liliana replied.

"Are you sure?" he pressed.

"What are you looking for?" she asked as Mike didn't stop walking around thoughtfully.

"Another way out." He said.

This time Sam intervened, "Mike… I really don't think that's a good idea. We should stay put, right here, until dawn… at least we're safe down here." Sam continued as she followed Mike around.

Liliana looked at all the screens of the video cameras splattered around the lodge and hugged herself. Josh didn't return… so he was probably dead as well. She looked at Chris but didn't ask anything, for the time wasn't exactly the right one.

Mike straightened up his body and stared at Sam, "Oh yeah? All wrapped up like a little present with a bow on top for that thing to tear us apart on Christmas morning?" he walked away from her.

"People will come for us… In the morning." She stated, pausing a little.

He turned at her, "You don't sound so sure."

Liliana gulped, he was right.

"That's… what'll happen." Sam looked at a nervous Emily expectantly, "Right Em?"

"Yeah… I-I mean… right?" the Asian girl replied.

Mike looked disbelieved, "Well you can wait. I'm leaving," he headed towards the back exit that led outside the old hotel.

"Mike there's no key to the cable car-" Emily yelled before he could leave. Liliana noticed that she was holding onto her right shoulder.

Mike turned around, "Josh," he remarked, "He's gotta have it!"

"Josh?" Sam questioned.

"One of his dirty little tricks," Mike said dryly.

"Great. Great…" the blonde sighed.

"If that fucking thing got a hold of Josh… then…" he stepped forward and his confidence crumbled, "…we're shit out of luck."

"I don't know Mike, it's possible." Emily shrugged.

Sam turned at her, "What's possible?"

"It may have taken him down to the mine…" Emily continued.

"What?" Mike asked.

Emily looked down and turned her back at everyone, she walked towards a table as she talked, "I saw some stuff down there… I think it's where that thing lives… and…" she paused when she caught sight of something interesting, she bended down and grabbed what appeared to be a book, "Huh…" she seemed more concentrated on the object than the explanation.

"Em… What?" Sam questioned as she approached her friend.

"Fuck it." Mike grumbled, "I'm gonna get that key. Right from that thing's godamned bedroom, and then I'm gonna get us all the hell out of here." He announced loudly.

However no one was paying attention. So Mike looked a little sheepish when he approached Sam and Emily, who were studying the book that was on the table. Liliana curiously peeked from Emily's shoulder and looked at it as well.

"Em what is all that?" Sam asked as she rummaged around.

"It's that old guy's back." She replied shortly. Now Liliana could see better, she could sense Mike hovering right behind her.

"Is that a map?" he asked interestedly.

Ashley was now standing next to Liliana, curiously looking at what they were doing. The brunette glanced back at Chris, who gave her a weak smile in return. His leg was really fucked up.

"The guy was prepared for everything." Sam commented.

Mike scoffed, "Not quite."

Liliana glared at him, "At least he tried to help us…"

Everyone was looking at some kind of map now.

"What is this place?" Emily asked.

Mike suddenly paused, "Oh my God." He blurted with private realization.

"Wait wait wait. What is that?"

"I was down there. It was horrible." Mike admitted.

"You were?" Sam looked at him in shock.

Liliana placed a comforting hand on his large shoulder, feeling pity for his friend.

"There had been a cave-in. I guess, and these miners got trapped down there." He explained

"Oh God…" Liliana sighed, "I can't imagine…"

"Some of them survived but… like… fifteen of 'em didn't make it. There was this reporter and I think he figured out there had been some, like, big cover-up going on. I found these plans – they knew the mine was a death trap, but they let the miners keep working anyway. And… I'm not sure what it means but, I found this chair, with dried blood all over the place… like, someone had been tortured." He continued.

Liliana shivered.

Emile showed distress as well, "Michael, I'd like to maybe focus on how we're going to get the fuck out of here please?"

"I'm with her… just… okay?" Liliana hugged herself, feeling her emotions slowly drain from her spirit.

"I'm just saying it's weird how much crazy shit's gone up here…" he reasoned.

"I think that what's weird is that there's a tunnel leading from the lodge to the Sanatorium." Liliana muttered, glancing at the plant in Sam's hands.

Emily nodded, "Yeah."

"That's how I got back here." Mike said when he took a look at it.

"I saw this when I was down there, that's where it lives." Emily explained.

They were all silent for a while, trying to think on a solution. When suddenly Liliana saw Ashley pat Emily's shoulder with a pale expression, Emily dismissed the girl's touch and looked back to the map.

"Em…" Ashley started, her voice was tight, "Em what is that…?" Ashley backed away with a fearful expression.

"What?" Liliana went to Em's side to look at her shoulder.

"Huh?" Emily looked at the red-haired confusedly.

"What is that?" Ashley snapped, repeating herself.

Mike was also backing away from his ex-girlfriend with a serious expression. Liliana looked better and saw the nasty wound on the Asian's shoulder. She stepped back, standing next to Sam.

"Ash…" Emily whispered, understand now why her friend was starting to freak out, it appears that maybe she didn't want her wound to be noticed for some reason.

"Em, oh my god oh my god oh my god! Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Ashley backed away far into the corner, she started trembling and looking at Emily with widened eyes.

"It's nothing, I just- it bit me, and-" Em tried to reason with her with a calm and soft voice.

But Ashley had already been through a lot in this night, she was clear in her mind, all she saw was danger, "It bit you?" she pointed at her accusingly, "What bit you?!"

"The ah… the Wendigo." Emily admitted, almost sadly.

Liliana covered her mouth and moved closer to her friend, "Does it hurt?"  
"The what?" Mike asked at the same time.

"It's nothing really, it's not a big deal—" she assured them both.

"You okay?" Sam asked concernedly.

Mike rubbed his temples in frustration, "Shit."

"It doesn't hurt anymore. Really." She looked between the three, "It's… It's not that bad."

"Em… if that thing bit you…" Mike started.

"I know what you're thinking. And I'm fine." She cut him, approaching him. But Mike took a step back as she did.

"Are you?"

Liliana didn't know what to think, they all didn't know shit about a Wendigo, hell she wished that flamethrower grandpa was here, maybe he'd knew.

"Yes!"

"Emily at least let us check it out." Sam said.

"Yeah…" Liliana nodded at her suggestion.

"Emily, if the Wendigo bit you… you could turn into one of those things." Mike said tensely.

"Oh that's ridiculous." Sam scoffed.

"He said it was from EATING each other – remember, he said that!" Ashley yelled, still in panic over Emily's condition.

"Wait- is that how it worked?" Sam asked her, surprised.

"Yes! It happens if it bit you, you're gonna turn on us Oh my god, OH MY GOD!" she started pacing around her corner while sobbing and looking fearful towards Emily.

"Ash, calm the fuck down!" Liliana snapped at her with wheezing on her voice, she was starting to be stressed about everything so she chose the time to take in a couple of puffs from her inhaler, she then settled the medical advice behind her on the table to use it later.

Mike looked at Ashley and then he thought for a few seconds, then he stared at Emily serious, "You can't be down here with us?"

Liliana chocked on her inhaler.

"WHAT?" Emily yelled.

"MIKE!" Sam wasted no second on defending her.

"YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR MIND!" Liliana coughed a little.

"You gotta go." His voice was so calm and emotionless that made the brunette shiver.

"Are you kidding me?!" Emily squealed.

"You're putting us ALL in danger!" Mike exclaimed.

"Like hell I am!" she cried.

"Emily… you can't stay here." Mike repeated, raising his voice a little.

Ashley's sobs could still be heard.

"Mike… just cool your head, okay? We don't know if it works like that. Maybe it's just a bite." Sam reasoned.

"I've seen what these fuckers can do. And I don't want to see it again." Chris spoke for the first time, with a weak and grim voice. He was staring coldly at Emily.

"What is this? Guys. What are you doing?" Emily asked, noticing the circle surrounding her.

Nobody replied.

"Door's right here." Mike pointed out. "I'm letting you do this voluntarily."

Emily looked at him and walked to stand face to face with an accusing finger, "Oh no you're just making yourself feel better about sending me to my death since you know there's a Wendigo out there ready to rip me to pieces like it did with-"

"OKAY OH MY GOD! WILL YOU JUST GO?!" Ashley interjected, still panicking over the bite, "GO1 GET OUT OF HERE!" she kept pointing at the exit while glaring at her.

"Ashley May Adams!" Liliana yelled at her, angry of how she was acting towards Emily. While she did so, Mike moved to grab the gun on the table.

Everyone was shocked when he aimed at Emily.

"Whoa!" Sam gasped as she quickly went for Mike, to stop him from shooting.

Liliana acted quickly too, she placed herself in front of Emily, who quickly succumbed herself behind her back in fear, "Okay…" she mumbled, shocked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa – Mike… calm down!" Sam yelled.

But he shoved her to his side, still staring at Emily, "Lily get the fuck outta the way!" he barked.

"No fucking way I'm doing that!" she snapped.

"You're gonna shoot me?" Emily asked in awe, she backed away to the evidence table but Liliana didn't move, "Mike… me?" she couldn't believe it, her own ex, wanted to shoot her.

"This is the safe room, Em!" Mike yelled, completely filled with paranoia.

Emily desperately backed away from him. She sat on the table and leaned against the wall as further as she could, "Please!" she sobbed.

"Mike STOP!" Liliana roared, approaching him a little.

"It's not safe as long as you're in it. Not for us!" he continued, ignoring both pleads.

He unlocked the trigger.

"No…" Emily sobbed more; she hugged her knees and hid her face there, obviously scared out of her mind.

"Sam, do something!" Liliana begged, already feeling her own tears form as well, she didn't want anyone else to die, not even Emily. Even if their relationship was a bit rocky right now, Emily didn't deserve this kind of treatment, especially from a man that she used to love.

The blonde looked away quickly, and Liliana covered her face, she would not move from her spot, she only prayed that the gun shot would never come.

"Don-… Don't do this!" Emily cried loudly.

He took a step towards her and shoved Liliana out of the way, the brunette stumbled her feet but Chris caught her in time, groaning a bit in pain. Liliana looked back at the horrible scene with widened eyes.

"I'm really sorry." Mike croaked.

There was a long pause where everyone just waited to see a bullet hit Emily's head, but five seconds later, nothing happened.

"Fuck, I can't do this!" Mike groaned as he turned away from her.

Liliana quickly ran to Emily's side and to comfort her.

"Oh my God…" Emily gasped out, as soon as she saw Liliana approaching her she held out her hands for the brunette to grab.

"It's fine, you're fine Em." Liliana assured to the shocked girl.

Sam sighed in relief, "You did the right thing."

Liliana shot a glare at Mike, "Yeah, I can't believe you actually…" she bit her tongue to stop talking. She couldn't even look at him right now. But she couldn't help but to feel a little happy that he stopped himself from pressing the trigger, maybe his conscious was clear enough to think through.

"I hope you did." Ashley spat from the far corner.

Mike paced around the room nervously, thinking about his decision, "Maybe… for now."

Liliana wrapped a protective arm around Emily. She didn't know why she cared so much about her, since they haven't practically talked over a year. But one thing she knew, she would not allow Mike to aim that gun at her, or any of them again.

"Shit… fuck fuck." Mike looked at her, "Don't give me that dirty look!"

"Whatever…"

He looked back at Sam, "Keep an eye on her," he started to look at everyone, except Emily, "if you see anything weird…" he paused. "You guys know what to do."

"Yeah," Ashley was the only one to reply to that grim order. Liliana couldn't believe how scared she was of Emily. She would have to talk with her later.

"No one leave. Okay? It's not safe out there." He continued. "I'll be back soon." He turned around and paced quickly towards the area that led to the Sanatorium. And after disappearing in the darkness, Mike was gone.

* * *

Everything was pretty calm for a while. Liliana was with Emily, comforting her. Sam was next to Chris, thinking and Chris was… well… dealing with the pain from his foot. Ashley had taken the stranger's journal with her and sat on one of the tables to read it. Liliana was curious about what she read but she was busy with Emily so she left Ashley to do the homework.

"Oh… no, no, no no no…" Ashley suddenly cried.

"What is it? What does it say?" Sam asked, walking towards her.

Ashley was reluctant at first but she ended up speaking, "It says that…" she paused to read the page again, "well… the bites… If it bites you it's not infectious." She finally confessed, "It doesn't do anything." She glanced at Emily before returning to the journal.

Liliana sighed and smiled, "Wait, really?" she felt her hand being squeezed.

"Let me see that!" Sam asked.

"Uh, I'm sorry what did you say?" Emily asked with an irritated tone, she stood up, letting go of Liliana's hand.

Sam walked around, reading the page to herself.

Ashley thought that this was the time to apologize, she walked slowly towards Emily, "Em, it says you'll be okay…"

"It says what?" Emily repeated, still shocked.

"You're gonna be fine!" Sam told her happily, and full of relief.

Liliana felt her stress and anxiety leave her body.

"Fine?! Mike almost shot me! Is that fine?!" Emily yelled betrayed, glaring at them.

"He didn't shoot you-" Sam tried to reason.

"Yeah… for a second," Liliana scoffed, crossing her arms and adding fuel to Emily's anger. She knew she shouldn't have said that but she as a much revolted as Emily was.

"And this bitch almost let him!" Emily moved closer at Ashley like a predator, the petite red-haired jumped back startled.

Sam quickly tried to stand between the two, "Hey that's not fair, she was scared—"

"I'm the one who's scared." Emily remarked, looking between the two.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry Emily…" Ashley expressed softly, "I mean- I didn't know what was going to happen… None of us know!"

"There's no excuse! There's no excuse for this!" Emily cut her angrily, stepping back from her like she was a disease.

"Please Emily; please just try to understand—" Ashley tried, chasing after her.

Emily turned at her, "Understand the palm of my hand you bitch." And with that, Emily slapped Ashley's cheek hardly enough to send her to the ground with a yelp. She looked down at her without any pity.

Liliana winced and Chris moved his hand for Ashley, but he retreated it when Ashley covered her burning and scarlet cheek and quickly ran back to the corner where she was, "I'm sorry… I'm so so so sorry…"

"Damn…" Liliana looked at Ashley, feeling guilty about something.

Sam just completely ignored the whole situation; she was busy still reading throughout the journal. Her eyes suddenly narrowed when she started reading one of the pages, "Shit. Shit-shit-shit." She cursed. "We've gotta get to Mike," everyone looked at her, "like, _now."_ She didn't even hesitate to hear the replies, she just ran into the direction where Mike did after dropping the journal back in the table.

"Hey, wait!" Liliana called, following after her.

The others following just behind Liliana, Chris was the last of the group with his limping steps.

The brunette looked ahead of Sam and started to have a bad feeling, maybe they should've stayed behind.

Or maybe they shouldn't have. She didn't know anymore, she was emotionally exhausted.

However, when leaving in a rush, she completely forgot to grab her inhaler from the same table where she comforted Emily.

* * *

 **A/N: I swear this chapter was haunted to never be posted but here it is, finally.**

 **I could've posted it sooner but I was mentally exhausted from playing the fifth episode of Life is Strange.**

 **Whoa. What a trip uh?**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 7/10**

 **Funny: 5/10**

 **Brave: 9/10**

 **Romantic: 5/10**

 **Curious: 8/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS:**

 **Ashley: 8/10**

 **Emily: 6/10**

 **Chris: 10/10**

 **Jess: 5/10**

 **Josh: 6/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 6/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**


	16. Karma - 9

**Thank you for the 98 reviews, 192 followers, 115 favorites and 16,720+ views! Almost 100 reviews :D**

 **I'm sorry for the late upload, I'm tired of giving excuses but my family isn't financial okay right now so my mom was only able to pay for the cable (and wifi) today, the final of the month, when she receives her check.**

 **Artemis' hunters: OMG! I can't believe you read my story I'm so happy :D I love all my readers but you were one of my inspirations to start my own Until Dawn story because you were my first Until Dawn fic! I saw that you updated I was just finishing up this chapter before I would read the new chapter! Thanks so much and yeah, I want Liliana to be like a mother-figure of the group, just like Sam. That's why they get along so fine ^^**

* * *

Sam was leading the group through the tunnel that led to the sanatorium. She remembered seeing in from the map on the stranger's backpack. Liliana was walking behind with Chris to make sure he wouldn't fall or stay behind, the brunette knew that Sam was agitated and knew something that was important to tell Mike but Chris's leg was still injured, he couldn't keep up with the group's fast walking.

"C'mon guys! Hurry up! We gotta find Mike!" Sam yelled, "Come on!"

Chris couldn't take it anymore; he leaned down against the tunnel's wall with a heavy breathing. "Hey…" he called weakly, "Aaah… I-I'm kinda gimping out here, guys…"

Everyone stopped to look at him, Ashley approached him with a worried expression.

 **ASHLEY – TUNNEL TO THE SANATORIUM**

 **05:16**

"I think maybe you should go on without me," he continued.

Before Liliana protested, Ashley spoke first, "No. Chris we're not leaving you. We're sticking together. Mike will just have to wait." She reassured him.

Liliana smiled and continued walking ahead, standing next to Sam. Sometimes Ashley's stubbornness came in right times.

Chris didn't reply, he just nodded and lifted himself from the wall. The walk then continued, they crossed a corner and went down another long corridor, Liliana glanced up when the pipes ahead of them made creepy noises, she looked back and saw Ashley and Chris a little far behind, there was a strange fog around the tunnel so it was hard to see.

They eventually came into a stop when Sam didn't succeed into opening a pair of metallic doors, they were locked alright.

She groaned, "Oh shit. Mike must have locked behind him. CRAP! There's gotta be a way in."

Ashley moved towards a sewer door, "Wait, hey!" she called everyone's attention. "What about this?"

"Oh… Huh…" Sam was catching her breath when she ran up to the sewer's door.

"I mean, should… should we try it?" Ashley asked timidly.

"Well it's not like we got a whole lot of choices here…" Sam said.

Ashley bended down to grab one of the loose pipes, then she proceeded to use her whole strength to pry the sewer's door open, Liliana scrunched her nose at the smell at it gave but like Sam said, they didn't had a choice. She helped Sam and Ashley transport the heavy metallic door out of the way and Chris watched them with a guilty expression and feeling useless. Emily just waited with her hands on her hips.

"Ugh… okay…" Ashley grunted as she tried to hold on onto the door.

When on the ground, everyone circled around the sewer's entrance with a frown, everyone was thinking the same thing but Ashley was the one who spoke: "Okay this maybe the last place I'd wanna be right now."

"So who's going first?" Sam asked comically as she looked around.

"Ha." Ashley scoffed.

"I'll go," Liliana shook her head as she sat down with her legs turned into the entrance on the dirty ladder, she turned around and carefully descended the stairs slowly, it was a bit dark but with Chris pointing the torch down into the hole helped a bit. When she felt the sewer floor, she was glad she wasn't stepping on the dirty water, she let go of the ladder – after wiping her hands – and looked up to see everyone looking down at her, "Who's next?" she challenged.

Sam was next, nervously breathing, "It's not so bad... you think this is the tunnel to the Sanitorium?" she asked.

"I guess…" Liliana replied, attentive and ready to catch Sam if she slipped.

"Of course it is. Where else would it go?" Ashley answered a bit bitchy.

Sam ignored her of course. Next to come down was Emily and then Chris, who was a bit slower because of his leg.

"Chris. I know you're hurt but you gotta move it alright?" Ashley snapped upstairs.

"Hey!" Liliana barked angrily, she wasn't overly happy to find out that Ashley's personality under a stressful and scary environment is bitchy and too all over the place, that girl needed to be smacked across the back of her head. She needed to calm down.

"It's fine Lils," Chris assured, "I'm tryin' Ash," he deadpanned to the red-haired. He didn't seem happy about her either, whatever romantic moment happened almost an hour ago didn't seem to be affecting their relationship at the moment.

After many grunts, Chris was finally with the group. As Ashley was climbing down, she suddenly froze with a thoughtful expression on her scared face.

"Uhm… hey," everyone looked at her, "We should close this, right?" she suggested.

"Huh?" Sam asked confusedly, looking up at her.

"I mean what if something's following us?" Ashley continued, looking back and forth.

Liliana nodded, "Seems like a safe idea."

"Yes fine. Close it. But we gotta keep moving. Can you just watch up? Please?" Sam said hurriedly, already following the group as Chris and Emily decided to proceed onwards.

"Yeah," Ashley replied dryly.

"I'll stay with Ash, don't wanna leave her alone," Liliana told Sam quickly, not noticing the grateful look that Ashley sent her.

"Alright fine—just, hurry okay?" Sam nodded before pacing quickly after the two.

Chris was hesitant for a few seconds before he finally followed Sam.

Liliana waited patiently as she watched Ashley cover the entrance again, she had to admit to herself that the petite girl had some arm strength when she slide the entrance closed again with the door by herself. When the job was done she climbed down the ladder and took a deep breath.

"Thanks for… staying behind." Said Ashley indebted.

Liliana simply nodded as the two started walking. "I actually wanted to talk with you too so, it's fine."

Ashley winced, knowing that she was going to be scolded, "Great…"

They walked through the tunnel of the sewer quietly for a while, Liliana was thinking on the correct words she wanted to express. She was angry at Ashley persay, this was a good night for anyone so she couldn't blame Ashley for acting like this. Liliana also had many feelings boiled up inside her and she felt like screaming at everyone and just run down the mountain, but she couldn't. Even though she knew Josh was dead – she had to remain calm. Until at least dawn. Then, when she's sure the rest of her friends that are alive well, are safe and sound, she would finally mourn and cry and yell, whatever she would feel, she would only express it when she was sure they were all safe. At the moment she had to be sane and keep her mind only on one goal: to make sure no one else dies – including herself.

They were passing a lean corner of the tunnel when suddenly they head a cry for help that seemed horrifyingly familiar.

They paused and shared an expression of confusion.

"H-Hello?" Ashley called out frightened to the other path.

Liliana looked at it and noticed the huge gap that they would have to jump in order to follow the voice. She looked ahead of the path suspiciously.

"Who's there?" Liliana's voice was more firm and demanding, "Anybody...?"

The cries continued into quick sobs. A shiver went up the brunette's spine: she had a bad feeling.

"Jessica?" Ashley yelled, "Is it you?"

Liliana closed her eyes, the voice did sound like Jessica but that was impossible. Or maybe there was a way? Some hope? No. Mike said that she was dead and he wouldn't lie about that so maybe he didn't check? A tingling feeling came across her heart as she felt hopeful, maybe Jessica was alive after all!

"C'mon," Liliana finally after deciding to investigate the voice.

"Really?" Ashley asked anxiously.

"Trust me, let's go." Liliana nodded as she wasted no time on jumping down the huge step, "Hurry!" she yelled, making Ashley flinch.

It was in her brown eyes, she was too much hopeful at the moment and she only cared about finding Jessica.

"This is fucking crazy…" Ashley whimpered as she leaped down to follow her.

"I know," Liliana whispered, looking ahead at the unknown path, "So is this night."

"Do you really think is Jessica?"

Liliana replied in a quick Portuguese so there was no way Ashley could understand. Liliana was in fact not thinking enough.

As they walked closer, the two could hear faint screeching and a banging sound followed by Jessica's cries. It was a bit scary and that left Liliana more eager and Ashley even more scared. They were walking in some kind of cave, but as they walked further it turned out to be some kind of abandoned mine, nothing made sense to the two.

"What is…" Ashley commented. "Oh God,"

Liliana paused when Ashley decided to take a left instead of following her to the right path, where the banging sound was more clear and loud.

"Ash, where are you going?!" Liliana whispered harshly. She watched her friend pick something from the ground and stare at it for a few seconds.

 **LOSS TOTEM FOUND**

When she walked back, she carried a pale expression but Liliana decided not to ask because she was in a hurry. Jessica's cries were no longer being heard but the banging sound became more distress and loud. They walked further to a place more lightened by moonlight, Liliana could well deduce that they were underground as she saw a hole covered poorly with wooden planks; she could see some snow falling on a barrel nearby.

A trap door – a banging trap door: something or someone was on the other side and they wanted to cross to where the girls were. The question was: open it or just continue to the path ahead?

Liliana shook her head and reached down to open it but Ashley grabbed her hand.

"No wait—I remember something from that book." She started, "It said that the Wendigo can imitate voices to lure their prey to them."

Liliana sighed in frustration, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, please—please don't open it. I have a bad feeling." Ashley begged with teary eyes, "I'm begging you let's just—continue alright? Jessica's dead."

The Portuguese girl looked at the trap door with sad eyes, "Y-Yeah… I can't hear her anymore… it's only… these loud and annoying banging." She gulped dryly, "This monster doesn't seem to have a heart."

Ashley was quiet, but she silently agreed with her.

They eventually reached an end where they had to yet jump again from an edge, this one was taller as the other one and Liliana actually felt an ankle burn after jumping, but due to the consequences… it didn't hurt as much as the lump in her throat that she was trying to control. As she turned around to catch Ashley, she was glomped with a warm hug, scaring the living light out of her.

"Glad you two are safe," Sam's voice said.

"Jesus! You scared me!" Liliana retorted apprehensively.

"Sorry,"

The group shared a few looks – mainly Chris who looked at Ashley with a lit expression – before continuing walking. They came across an open space with a huge cliff ahead of them. Liliana glared behind her back when she still could hear the persistent banging on the trap door.

"Look… up there!" Ashley pointed at the edge of the cliff – the only exit.

"Wow great." Sam said sarcastically.

"The ladder's toast. We're never gonna make it up there," Ashley complained in distress.

Liliana eyed Chris and then his leg, "You're right, you guys can't." She looked at Sam with a knowing smirk.

"I think Lily and I can, I mean—I can. It's like… a rock wall." Sam stated.

"What do you mean you? I'm coming too, sensei." Liliana scoffed, already stretching her arms.

No one in the group was in the mood to laugh, but Liliana didn't care. She approached her challenge and let Sam talk.

"We're gonna keep going, you should head back to the lodge, we've gotta get Mike." Sam informed the group in more like a leader's order.

"Good luck!" Ashley yelled.

Liliana nodded at her and smiled at them, Chris didn't seem to like the idea but he didn't open his mouth.

"Well Lily, you ready for the challenge?" Sam suddenly mumbled at her, already grabbing a rock.

"Please, any challenge involving the safety of my friends is going down." Liliana retorted as she pulled her body up.

 **SAM – MINES**

 **05:35**

Sam climbed but Liliana decided to boldly leap into a piece of the broken stairs. Sam jumped to the outcrop but Liliana climbed around, the rocks were a bit slippy so they had to be careful.

"My muscles are burning," Liliana commented between groans, trying to lift up the mood a bit.

"It's the fire within you." Sam replied quickly, making her smile.

Liliana's body was dangling from an edge as she tried to decide if she would climb or simply jump to the edge of the broken stairs. When she jumped to the edge, Sam jumped at the same time and luckily the space was large enough for the two. Liliana let Sam roll her body up to the edge first and with shaky arms, she was able to use her legs to pull her body to the safety of the other side, where Sam started helping her when she could.

They did it, they climbed it.

"We beat it, we fuckin beat it." Sam celebrated tiredly with her voice full of pride.

Liliana laughed lightly and coughed a little, when she reached her pocket to take a puff from her inhaler her complexion became pale.

"Oh no—"

Sam took a pause between her panting, "What?"

"My asthma inhaler, it's not with me." Liliana deadpanned somberly.

Sam's eyes widened, "What?!"

A flashback of Liliana dropping her inhaler in the table at the old hotel came across her brown eyes, she covered her face in shame, "I left it back at the hotel… I'm so stupid!" she wheezed.

"Calm down okay? Panicking makes it worst let's just, take a deep breath and control that breathing. Just remember what Beth used to say sweetie," Sam said, feeling no remorse on bringing Beth's name up.

"Right. I just need to keep calm and take steady breaths." Liliana nodded, feeling herself relaxing, "Let's just go ahead alright?"

"You sure? We can take a break—"

"No. We need to find Mike, remember?"

Sam continued staring at her for confirmation and the brunette smiled reassuring at her. Liliana decided that it was more important to warn Mike about whatever Sam wanted to tell him.

* * *

 **A/N: There was more here but I had to cut because unfortunately a family emergency occurred, I was tired when I got home so I decided to leave it here, sorry!**

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 8/10**

 **Funny: 5/10**

 **Brave: 9/10**

 **Romantic: 5/10**

 **Curious: 8/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS:**

 **Ashley: 8/10**

 **Emily: 6/10**

 **Chris: 10/10**

 **Jess: 5/10**

 **Josh: 6/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 6/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**


	17. The Mines

**Thank you for the 107 reviews, 159 favorites, 227 follows and 29,155 views!**

 **Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw. I cannot believe that I actually decided to come out from the hiatus and continue this one. Seriously, I don't know what happened. One minute I was re-watching Markiplier play 'Until Dawn' and the next thing I know I am continuing the draft that I had for a new chapter.**

 **You consider yourselves lucky I guess? Welp, since we're so close to the ending why not wrap up this baby? I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always I am so fucking sorry about the grammatical mistakes Hahaha!**

 **Also I've dove into new fandoms since I last posted a chapter of this story. Last time I was this late the Until Darn fanfiction only had two pages.**

 **This fandom really grew uh? I don't even know if it's still active but I still have a crush on Rami Malek. Please tell me you watch Mr. Robot!**

 **Happy reading!**

* * *

Sam and Liliana continued walking inside the cave where they ended up climbing to, they went up some wooden stairs and the Portuguese girl scrunched her nose at the squeaking that the boards made every time they walked. It wasn't until they paced by the stairs bridge when Liliana was almost hit by heavy rocks that suddenly fell through the ceiling, fortunately Sam pulled her friend to herself in time.

"Ahh! Jesus!" Sam exclaimed as she looked back.

"Oh my god…" Liliana gasped as she clung to her friend.

They both looked down at the giant hole caused by the unstable rocks; there was no going back now.

Shaking the scare, they continued ahead. This time Liliana was closer to Sam, just in case. When they were reaching towards the other set of stairs, a loud boom shook the whole underground around them.

"What was that?!" Liliana squealed while looking up with widened eyes.

"An explosion somewhere…" Sam muttered while shaking her head.

There was two paths, one was a bridge that led them left but another was straight ahead that led them up the stairs into a room. They went for the room and while Liliana looked around. Sam grabbed yet another totem; this one seemed to be the head of one of the collections.

 **\+ Death Totem +**

"Did you see something?" Liliana asked.

Sam seemed pale, but she shook her head quickly. "N-No, let's just continue…"

"Wait, look at this… there's a skull and a creepy drawing." The brunette pointed off, "I need your flashlight."

Sam approached her friend and narrowed her eyes at the unhuman or unanimal skull. "What the…"

Liliana shivered and continued walking ahead, Sam quickly followed as the two descended a set of wooden stairs, being the only path out of that creepy area. When they turned right to continue ahead, the cave's top suddenly shook causing some rocks to fall on the bridge ahead of them. They yelped and held on to the rails before they could fall down.

But Sam noticed that the rocks that fell were causing a massive hole to open ahead, if they didn't jump while the hole was short they could not possible continue on their path and meet with Mike.

"Oh fuck! Fuck! Lily jump with me! NOW!" she yelled at the Portuguese girl.

Full on adrenaline, Liliana quickly complied her friend's desperate orders and used all the muscle strength she had left on her legs to follow Sam into a leap of faith to the other side of the now fallen bridge.

As they got to the other side, there was no time to celebrate when a phantasmagorical screech echoed around them. Liliana screamed and clinged to Sam's arm while the blonde looked around with fear clear in her eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Liliana asked with a shaken up voice.

Sam was looked behind them as if she had a feeling something was watching from her back, "I don't know… let's just keep walking." She turned to continue walking as Liliana nodded, letting go of her arm. Sam however noticed something with her sharp eyes, a lonely pipe.

"Uh…" she mumbled curiously as she grabbed it and inspected it.

"You think we're gonna need that?" The brunette sighed as she eyed the object turned possible weapon fearfully.

Sam sighed, "Let's just go… That quake might have been related to Mike."

And so they proceeded to walk on another bridge, this time Liliana looked up with paranoia, afraid that more rocks would collapse on them.-Fortunately nothing happened as they continued.

Both leaped down to another floor on the mine, it wasn't a big jump but Liliana had to smile when she felt her left ankle burn. It reminded her when she first arrived to the mountain with Sam, her smile suddenly vanished when she remember the situation everyone was in.

This was all a big nightmare.

The two girls walked straight ahead towards a giant, metallic door when Mike suddenly bursted from the other side yelling, scaring Liliana and Sam as they jumped back like scared cats.

"Stay out there!" Mike growled as he shoved the door on what it seemed a demon being engulfed by flames.

"What the fuck!" Liliana covered her eyes as Sam approached Mike quickly.

Unfortunately Mike wasn't strong enough and the thing—the Wendigo on fire was able to +overpower him when it broke the door open and leaped on him. It was a horrible sight to see and for a second both girls didn't move.

"Mike! Holy shit!" Sam screamed horrified. She took action quickly, Liliana watched her friend raise the heavy looking pipe up, aiming at the burning Wendigo's head, "Hey! FATTY! OVER HERE!" she barked at him bravely, and when she got the monster's attention she swung the pipe at its head strongly, shoving it away from Mike's grasp. But it wasn't enough so Sam, full with adrenaline, aimed the pipe at the Wendigo again and hit it when it suddenly approached her for the kill.

Amazingly so, when Sam swung at its head again, it projected itself out of its spider-like body, disappearing on the other side of the door.

"Holy shit Sam! That's a homerun!" Liliana awed. First her blonde friend threw a vase at a possible psychopath and now this?

Mike wasted no time, he got up even though he was weak and hurt and closed the metallic door; then he leaned over it to catch his breath. Liliana thought that he was having an asthma attack for a second.

As he looked at the girls, a sudden and screeching red mist passed through the door above him, floating upwards and disappearing in the darkness.

"Was that the Wendigo spirit?" Liliana asked innocently.

"Whoa… you two alright?" Mike asked as he leaned over his knees for some support.

Sam and Liliana approached him.

"Uh… define 'alright'." Sam sassed him.

He shrugged, "Alive, for a start." He retorted with a shit eating grin.

Liliana rolled her eyes and hugged him, "We're so glad you're okay…"

"Yeah…" Mike breathed as he pulled away from the hug, he gave her a soft smile before he looked at Sam, "What the hell are you two doing here anyway?" he asked with a scolding tone.

"We were going to warn you about the Wendigos." Sam replied as she gripped onto her pipe.

"I think I got it." he deadpanned.

"Yeah..." Sam chuckled weakly.

"Have you seen Joshua?" Liliana suddenly asked him hopefully.

Mike gave her a sad smile and shook his head, "No but let's find a way down where this fucker lives. Maybe then we'll find Josh there." he nodded at Sam, who nodded back.

Liliana however, hugged herself and imagined the worse. She had seen a Wendigo, and if Mike couldn't hold it back then how could Joshua?

"Hey don't worry. We find a way down and Josh will be there. I promise." Sam told her comfortingly.

And Mike cringed at her choice of words, Sam should be aware of what she was promising, what if they found Josh all mutilated and dead? Now he really hoped to see that crazy idiot again… especially now that he knew that he wasn't the one that killed Jessica. Michael at least wanted to apologize before anything fatal could happen.

* * *

 **LILIANA – MINES**

 **06:00**

"I was not prepared for how ugly that thing would be up close." Same admitted to Mike and Liliana.

"Tell me about it… I almost puked if I hadn't closed my eyes in time." The brunette sighed.

"Yeah…" Mike agreed, "…so I noticed something kind of weird about it…" he started.

Sam walked a little further than him as Liliana stayed to his side; both of them looked at him expectantly.

"Uh… what?" Sam deadpanned with a tired tone. How more fucked up could this night be?

"The Wendigo," he continued as the trio walked, "it had a scar."

"So?" Liliana asked this time.

"I've seen it before." Mike stated.

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked confusedly as Liliana scrunched her eyebrows.

"I saw these old pictures of some guy with that same scar – and he was transforming into a Wendigo." He explained further.

"You're kidding." The blonde said.

"It was one of the miners who'd been trapped back in the fifties… in the cave-in. Which means that thing in eighty years old. At least." he added grimly.

Sam shook her head in disbelief, even though she trusted Mike's words, "Spunky for an old timer." She joked sarcastically.

"Does this means that these bastards are immortal?" Liliana asked as she followed Sam.

"Maybe, I don't know…" Mike sighed, "They cleaned the place out… killed a lot of people."

"They? You mean there's more of them?" Sam asked him.

"Oh yeah," Mike nodded with a sour look on his face.

"How many?" Liliana asked fearfully.

Mike paused for a second, "Too many." He told her before walking away.

Sam and Liliana shared a worried look before following him.

"I think we're close to the lair." Sam told them as they faced a narrow path that lead them further into the darkness of the cave.

"How can you tell?" Mike asked her curiously.

"I don't know… I just…"

"I have a bad feeling, so we must be pretty close." Liliana helped.

"Exactly, I feel really terrible all of a sudden." Sam mumbled dejectedly.

"Ditto." Mike said.

"I really don't want to go in there…" Sam admitted as they approached a giant wheel surrounded by water.

"We have to, I feel like Joshua is on the other side." Liliana insisted.

"There's no other way through." Mike sighed as Sam kneeled down to pick something she had spotted.

Another totem? Liliana was starting to worry about why those where spread all over the mountain.

 **\+ Fortune Totem +**

As they jumped over a log, Sam noticed something else and approached it quickly.

"Mike, Lily, is that what I think it is?" Sam asked.

"Shit. It looks like a grave." Mike announced sadly.

Liliana shook her head and stood behind Sam as the blonde inspected something she had picked up.

 **\+ Clue Found: Beth's Watch +**

"Oh my God…" Liliana took a step back with a grim look on her face. "This is…"

Sam backed away from the grave quickly and turned to the two of her friends, "Oh God… guys… this is Beth's! This is her watch!" she sobbed dryly as she showed the signature of Liliana's best friend.

"What?" Mike asked perplexed, "Let me see." He held the watch higher on her hands and read the inscription.

"It is… I recognize it…" Liliana mumbled as tears started to form on her eyes.

Sam grabbed her hand and turned back to the grave, "Look… t-there was a cross here!" she told mostly to Mike, Sam realized that Liliana needed to calm down because of her asthma.

"So this is where she was buried." Mike concluded.

"Oh God…" Liliana whimpered.

Sam sighed, "But… who dug her up?"

Mike looked at her and turned around; pointing his flashlight around him to make sure the three were alone. He looked at Liliana and Sam sadly, "Let's keep moving." He decided.

Sam pocketed Beth's watch on her blue yoga pants and stared at the grave with Liliana; both mourned the loss of their friend for a second before following Mike.

Liliana however stayed behind a little more, she contemplated on the hole where Beth's lifeless body had previously been on. She didn't need to be smart to realize that Hannah was the one that probably buried her, if not her then who else? The flamethrower guy? She doubted. All she needed was something that could prove her theory… something, even a small detail that they could not miss.

She inhaled through her nostrils and exhaled slowly through her mouth to calm her breathing down; her asthma could not slow her down at the moment. It was time to shake up the fear and stay attentive to her surroundings.

* * *

 **CHARACTER TRAITS: (By the end of this chapter)**

 **Honest: 8/10**

 **Charitable: 8/10**

 **Funny: 6/10**

 **Brave: 7/10**

 **Romantic: 6/10**

 **Curious: 6/10**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATUS: (By the end of this chapter)**

 **Ashley: 8/10**

 **Emily: 6/10**

 **Chris: 10/10**

 **Jess: 5/10**

 **Josh: 6/10**

 **Matt: 7/10**

 **Mike: 8/10**

 **Sam: 10/10**


End file.
